I came to political consciousness with John F. Kennedy's magnificent 1961 Inaugural Address. It seemed the start of something fresh and exciting, and it was.

Novel writing should never be confused with journalism. Unfortunately, in the case of Primary Colors, a fair number of journalists confused.

Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre.

Affirmative action was always racial justice on the cheap.

Diversity has been written into the DNA of American life; any institution that lacks a rainbow array has come to seem diminished, if not diseased.

Dictating to dictators doesn't work; they are congenitally delusional about their own indispensability.

Bush promised a foreign policy of humility and a domestic policy of compassion. He has given us a foreign policy of arrogance and a domestic policy that is cynical, myopic and cruel.

Anonymous sources are a practice of American journalism in the 20th and 21st century, a relatively recent practice. The literary tradition of anonymity goes back to the Bible.

I've been described as a grizzled political veteran.

You can't get all of your news from Jon Stewart, especially since it's a comedy show.

We journalists are never so idiotic as when we analyze things that we shouldn't be analyzing.

I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.

Jesus did not command us to pray for the sick.He commanded us to heal them.

When the need to succeed is as bad as the need to breathe, then you'll be successful.

Fortune cures us of many faults that reason could not.

For so long I hid behind the blonde hair and the blue eyes. Now I feel like I've done it, I've done what I set out to achieve, now I can just go back to being me.

Every writer knows he is spurious; every fiction writer would rather be credible than authentic.

I am the boss of me. You can't change anyone else. Women think they can. But you know what? You can't.

I shouldn't say bad things about the illiterate, though..I should write it. That way they won't find out.

I'm the guy that's trying to break up that monopoly to introduce free enterprise and competition to the energy sector.

If you stand on the Word, you do not stand with the world.