The world does not get to be a better or a worse place; it just gets more senescent.

Everyone wants a prodigy to fail; it makes our mediocrity more bearable.

The most beautiful prose paragraph yet written by any American.

We read, frequently if not unknowingly, in search of a mind more original than our own.

I realized early on that the academy and the literary world alike

It is hard to go on living without some hope of encountering the extraordinary.

Shakespeare is the true multicultural author. He exists in all languages. He is put on the stage everywhere. Everyone feels that they are represented by him on the stage.

At our present bad moment, we need above all to recover our sense of literary individuality and of poetic autonomy.

Read deeply, not to believe, not to accept, not to contradict, but to learn to share in that one nature that writes and reads.

Reading well is one of the greatest pleasures that solitude can afford you.

The art and passion of reading well and deeply is waning, but [Jane] Austen still inspires people to become fanatical readers.

There are many men out there who can see nothing but evil. It is on their vision like a cataract. Don't make yourself available to their interpretation of your worth.

I was all too aware that there's an unspoken law that you should never start to cry if you have too many reasons to do so. I told myself that my tears were due tot he cold, and I believed myself.

With courage and character, American soldiers continue to put themselves on the line to defend our freedom, and so many have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Propaganda will never die out. Intelligent men must realize that propaganda is the modern instrument by which they can fight for productive ends and help to bring order out of chaos.

Gold medals are made out of sweat, blood and tears and effort in the gym every day.

There's just been a couple of moments where - we did the one [ Carpool Karaoke] with Justin Bieber, which kind of went crazy and I think is at, like 65 million views on YouTube .

Talking about the future, like we had a clue. Never plans that one day, I'd be losing you

I never used to tell jokes on stage. Now I'm cutting up jokes all night long.

Some people think I look like a sweet potato, I consider myself a spud with a heart of gold.

Leonard Pitts, Jr. is the most insightful and inspiring columnist of his generation.