She looked not so much composed as drawn inward. She was one of those people who are irrevocably, incurably honest and therefore both inflexible and vulnerable at the same time.

...these sleepless nights, when oddly enough my concentration was high, fueled perhaps by the effort to ignore the all-engrossing threat of bombs and rockets.

And even with the book closed, the voices do not stop--there are echoes and reverberations that seem to leap off the pages and mischievously leave the novel tingling in our ears.

The truth is that James, like many other great writers and artists, had chosen his own loyalties and nationality. His true country, his home, was that of the imagination.

My toe as a lethal weapon!

I went on and on, and as I continued, I became more righteous in my indignation. It was the sort of anger one gets high on, the kind one takes home to show off to family and friends.

The Islamic Revolution, as it turned out, did more damage to Islam by using it as an instrument of oppression than any alien ever could have done.

[V]alue your dreams but . . . be wary of them also, . . . look for integrity in unusual places.

Every child must be taught how to think, read and write.

Language is the amber in which a thousand precious and subtle thoughts have been safely embedded and preserved.

I don't need every answer. Just the right answer.

The world has changed, and it's almost been 11 years. I have 975 employees. I have six restaurants. We haven't opened any new ones in almost three years.

I think Donald Trump's going to quickly disappear from radar.

What novelty is worth that sweet monotony where everything is known, and loved because it is known?

The families of our friends are always a disappointment.

It’s critical that young people start flexing their creative muscles in order to take on the world's most complex challenges.

I laugh, that there's a certain kind of cyclical nature to life and that I don't have to worry because whatever isn't there right now, it's coming back again.

I think President Obama has always been a little bit underestimated. Some of the things he's done with foreign policy have been unassailable. Getting us out of Iraq, killing Osama Bin Laden.