The true religion of America has always been America.

Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.

A modern democracy is a tyranny whose borders are undefined; one discovers how far one can go only by traveling in a straight line until one is stopped.

The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.

Khomeini has offered us the opportunity to regain our frail religion ... faith in the power of words.

There was that law of life, so cruel and so just, that one must grow or else pay more for remaining the same.

Any war that requires the suspension of reason as a necessity for support is a bad war.

America is a hurricane, and the only people who do not hear the sound are those fortunate if incredibly stupid and smug White Protestants who live in the center, in the serene eye of the big wind.

I was thinking that surgeons had to be the happiest people on earth. To cut people up and get paid for it-that's happiness, I told myself.

Love asks us that we be a little braver than is comfortable, a little more generous, a little more flexible. It means living on the edge more than we care to.

Reaching consensus in a group is often confused with finding the right answer.

Novels give you the matrix of emotions, give you the flavour of a time in a way formal history cannot.

I feel like something magical is going to happen, and I feel like all the stars have finally lined up perfectly for Angie Stone.

I was treated much better in Africa than I was treated in America. And you see, often I get letters like this: "Go back to Africa."

On tight money: It reflects a reversion to the old idea that the tree can be fertilized at the top instead of at the bottom - the old trickle-down theory.

You manifest based on who you are already - so you must own the identity of the dream in order to manifest it.

I'm loyal to my thoughts, to my friends. This is what I really like the best. Loyalty. Sounds goody-goody. Maybe that's not the one you wanted.

What wise God would consign a man to Hell for ignorance, instead of teaching him better in the afterlife?

If you have compassion for society, only then will the events of your life, sow seeds of revolution in it.

When it comes to deciding between your love and your truth, truth has to be the decisive factor.

My philosophy is: Everybody needs to look out for everybody else.