The dominant mood of contemporary American culture is the self-celebration of the peasantry.

No longer a mark of distinction or proof of achievement, a college education is these days a mere rite of passage, a capstone to adolescent party time.

Where a generation ago people felt entitled to a chance at education, they now feel entitled to the credential affirming that they have completed a course of study regardless of their actual mastery.

Ultimately it is the yearning to believe that anyone can be brought up to college level that has brought colleges down to everyone's level.

Any departure from fact is the first step on a slippery slope toward unbelievability.

The fact is that some people are better than others - smarter, harder working, more learned, more productive, harder to replace.

A poet laureate of adolescent sexuality and middle-age longing.

The very essence of school is elitism. Schools exist to teach, to test, to rank hierarchically to promote the idea that knowing and understanding more is better than knowing and understanding less.

In my mind, partial failure is always better than delusory success.

It is scarcely the same thing to put a man on the Moon as to put a bone in your nose.

Isabel’s indelible absence is now an organ in our bodies whose sole function is a continuous secretion of sorrow.

Artists strive for perfection. But what they often fail to see is that the beauty, the humanity, lies within the flaws.

Numerous studies have shown how when one person in a romantic coupling gets depressed, the other becomes more depressed.

Having unlimited choices can paralyze you creatively.

Dream big, sacrifice all, and you will enjoy victory.

Of late, attempts have been made in the USA - at a high level and in a rather cynical form - to play the "Chinese card" against the USSR. This is a shortsighted and dangerous policy.

The World Cup is a very important way to measure the good players, and the great ones. It is a test of a great player.

Cruelty isn't a personality trait. Cruelty is a habit.

I don't need a lot of space.

The only tip I have for an artist is perseverance... Never give up.