Psychology keeps trying to vindicate human nature. History keeps undermining the effort.

Pain narrows consciousness; pleasure blurs it.

When Medusa looks in the mirror, she sees the Lady of Sorrows.

My passions have never jumped out of the fireplace and set fire to the carpet.

Retirement requires the invention of a new hedonism, not a return to the hedonism of youth

The sewing machine joins what the scissors have cut asunder, plus whatever else comes in its path.

Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.

The laughter of the aphorism is sometimes triumphant, but seldom carefree.

'Be faithful to your roots' is the liberal version of 'Stay in your ghetto.'

Every day begins with an act of courage and hope: getting out of bed.

Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris.

[Magnus] held on to the boy, newborn in grave dirt and blood, and he wished that he had found him dead.

[Donald Trump] said on MSNBC's Morning Joe program, "My primary consultant is myself." While this may make consensus easy, the range of perspective is dangerously narrow.

None of my books are best-sellers. In fact, the only thing that's kept me alive is the books that are in paperback. People find them, they like them, and they pass them on.

Christine O'Donnell released a commercial in which she says, 'I'm not a witch.' That's pretty good, though not as effective as her opponent's slogan, 'I'm not Christine O'Donnell.'

A man may take care of a furnace for twenty-five years and still forget to duck his head when he starts going down the cellar stairs.

I don't hate anyone. The only people I know well enough to hate, I love.

The test of a true myth is that each time you return to it, new insights and interpretations arise.

Sometimes I wish I were less sensible.

If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize.