Our only real hope for democracy is that we get the money out of politics entirely and establish a system of publicly funded elections.

Students who acquire large debts putting themselves through school are unlikely to think about changing society. When you trap people in a system of debt, they can't afford the time to think.

The general population doesn't know what's happening, and it doesn't even know that it doesn't know.

That's the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don't work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.

Jingoism, racism, fear, religious fundamentalism: these are the ways of appealing to people if you're trying to organize a mass base of support for policies that are really intended to crush them.

There's a good reason why nobody studies history, it just teaches you too much.

The world is a very puzzling place. If you're not willing to be puzzled, you just become a replica of someone else's mind.

Democratic societies can't force people. Therefore they have to control what they think.

Nobody should have any illusions. The United States has essentially a one-party system and the ruling party is the business party.

If you want to control a population... give them a God to worship.

A language is not just words. It's a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is. It's all embodied in a language.

The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.

The true mark of a Christian leader is trying to build up other people. Raise up other leaders!

I want to just at least make it weird for you to watch Cosby Show reruns.

I grew up with an artist father, and my parents' friends were also mainly artists or writers, so he connects what I do with his example.

the music was always in the background, like music at a church service; it was something to depend upon.

I wanted to be a set designer when I was young.

Buy good books, and read them; the best books are the commonest, and the last editions are always the best, if the editors are not blockheads.

Sometimes the riskiest decision you can make is to do nothing.

Always work harder than other people are willing to work. Sweat more, endure more pain, and then reap the rewards of success and achievement.

It's good to be different.