Still, compared to him, compared to the people we descend from, I am free of history. I'm so free of history I have to get in a car and drive seven states to find it.

Like Lincoln, I would like to believe the ballot is stronger than the bullet. Then again, he said that before he got shot.

Being a nerd, which is to say going too far and caring too much about a subject, is the best way to make friends I know.

The modern mocha is a bittersweet concoction of imperialism, genocide, invention, and consumerism served with whipped cream on top

My lips are chapped from the winds of change.

While I gave up God a long time ago, I never shook the habit of wanting to believe in something. So I replaced my creed of everlasting life with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The whole point of Louis Armstrong is that no one can really figure him out. There was a while where I thought you could try.

History is one war after another with a bunch of murders and natural disasters in between.

What are you hiding? No one ever asks that.

I no longer drink nearly as much as I used to but, still, my motto is Sine coffea nihil sum. Without coffee, I'm nothing.

You know, it's always good to have a synonym just for variety.

You have the courage to take chances.

A dreamer must be discovered working or working on it or it is reduced to a wish.

Most of the stuff I do is garbage.

A poet is not something you become; a poet is something you are.

My formula for success is just a lot of hard work. It's believing in yourself. It's a pride that I gotta get better at something every time I wake up.

Small banks that lend to consumers are fine.

Harvard has been almost as important to the American Jewish community as the pork-sausage industry.

The greatest privilege of a human life is to become a midwife to the awakening of the Soul in another person.

Silence, maiden; thy tongue outruns thy discretion.