Affirmative action was always racial justice on the cheap.

Novel writing should never be confused with journalism. Unfortunately, in the case of Primary Colors, a fair number of journalists confused.

Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre.

Diversity has been written into the DNA of American life; any institution that lacks a rainbow array has come to seem diminished, if not diseased.

Dictating to dictators doesn't work; they are congenitally delusional about their own indispensability.

Bush promised a foreign policy of humility and a domestic policy of compassion. He has given us a foreign policy of arrogance and a domestic policy that is cynical, myopic and cruel.

Anonymous sources are a practice of American journalism in the 20th and 21st century, a relatively recent practice. The literary tradition of anonymity goes back to the Bible.

I've been described as a grizzled political veteran.

You can't get all of your news from Jon Stewart, especially since it's a comedy show.

We journalists are never so idiotic as when we analyze things that we shouldn't be analyzing.

For those of us who consider ourselves political moderates, life is a dispiriting slog, a sorry mix of rectitude and ineptitude.

We rode on the winds of the rising storm, We ran to the sounds of the thunder.We danced among the lightning bolts, and tore the world asunder.

Lies are convenient when the truth is unfathomable.

When big-time blunders occur in any workplace, the boss or bosses usually are at fault, not clerks or secretaries or salespeople. Not reporters, the buck stops with the boss.

I was never built to play the hero. Physically or emotionally... And they're not as rewarding to play. At least for me.

The struggle is so great that the triumph over fascism alone is worth the sacrifice of our lives.

The chemistry between a quarterback and a receiver is almost like a dance.

We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society, for nothing suffocates the promise of America more than unbounded cynicism and indifference.

If you think we'll get in, we'll get in. It's all about confidence, trust me.

Great food, like all art, enhances and reflects a community’s vitality, growth and solidarity. Yet history bears witness that great cuisines spring only from healthy local agriculture.

It sometimes seems as though we were trying to combine the ideal of no schools at all with the democratic ideal of schools for everybody by having schools without education.