If any overarching conclusion emerges from the Afghan and Iraq Wars (and from their Israeli equivalents), it's this: victory is a chimera.

We are squandering our wealth. In many respects, to the extent that we persist in our imperial delusions, we're also going to squander our freedom...

Sometimes, when you can't fix the problem on your own, you need to make some compromises and find the partners who can get the job done for you.

Ideology makes people stupid.

It's not so much the amount of tax we pay - it's the sense that our pocket's being picked without our knowing what's going on.

As a kid I was enamored with fiction, most of it utterly forgettable and long forgotten.

Rejection would be a disaster for the U.S., but ratification alone will not end our problems in Iraq. Even if the constitution is ratified, the insurgents are not going to lay down their arms.

Beliefs are not related to religion but they are basically about who you are.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly the true place for a just man is also a prison.

I used to wake up in the morning and say, 'Oh, God.' Now I wake up in the morning and look forward to life.

People sometimes ask me, because of the blacklisting, "Do you hate the government? Don't you hate white people?" No, it's greed that's the problem.

It is evident that one cannot say anything demonstrable about the problem before having resolved these preliminary questions, and yet we hardly possess the necessary information to solve some of them

This is a rumour-filled society and if people want to sit around and talk about whom I've dated, then I'd say they have a lot of spare time and should consider other topics... or masturbation.

It is a strength of character to acknowledge our failings and our strong points, and it is a weakness of character not to remain in harmony with both the good and the bad that is within us.

The voter does not vote only on one issue, the voter votes on a multiplicity of issues.

I am still searching for the expression of those confused sensations that we bring with us at birth.

My place in Chicago is a 105 year old house, but I really like contemporary spaces too, so it's refreshing and fun to be in a space where you can do contemporary things.