It may sound paradoxical, but verbal fluency is the product of many hours spent writing about nothing, just as musical fluency is the product of hours spent repeating scales.

This is what language does: organize the world into manageable, and in some sense artificial, units that can then be inhabited and manipulated.

The purpose of a good education is to show you that there are three sides to a two-sided story.

Just as you can practice three-word sentences or sentences that travel across time zones, so can you practice writing sentences that breathe unshakable conviction.

Belief and knowledge are considered to be two different things. But they are not.

The first thing to ask when writing a sentence is 'What am I trying to do?'

Sentences can save us. Who could ask for anything more?

The idea - the core idea of humanism - is that the act of reading about great deeds will lead you to imitate them.

It is always incorrect to assume you can know what someone's moral convictions are based on their philosophical theories.

Sentence writers are not copyists; they are selectors.

People write or speak sentences in order to produce an effect, and the success of a sentence is measured by the degree to which the desired effect has been achieved.

A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with the possible exceptions of handguns and Tequila.

Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor. Which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony.

I really feel lucky that I still feel excited about the actual work that I get to do. I just happen to love it, and I could easily see, for somebody else, that not being the case.

So much of life is in the smallness of moments...but they are harder to mark. So we need the grander celebrations and occasions. People like to feel significant.

Rangers are definitely on the back heel now

My parents wanted to light my artistic candle. But over time, the definition of 'the arts' began to stretch. And as I got older, they suddenly realized, Oh, my God, we're the parents of Iggy Pop.

Marriage is grand. Divorce is about twenty grand.

Fear can be the result of admiration, or it can be a symptom of contempt.

Ever since I've had any political awareness, I've felt either alone or part of a tiny minority.

People's view of exotic or Asian women are changing. It's much nicer to hear 'She's pretty' than 'She's pretty - for an Asian woman.