Americans must either choose big government and be willing to pay for and submit to it, or they must move toward smaller, less intrusive government and be willing to enjoy fewer government programs.

Thinking is like exercise, it requires consistency and rigor. Like barbells in a weightlifting room, the classics force us to either put them down or exert our minds. They require us to think.

The slaves in Rome were incapable of leisure and so their masters gave them entertainment to keep them pacified.

No matter what the Constitution says, it won't endure if the people don't closely read it and demand that it be followed.

Until the American majority is willing to live within its means, it can hardly force its political leaders to do so.

The only person who can fix education is the student.

Real value means people value-and creating value really means helping people choose better lives.

The liberal arts are the arts of communication and thinking. 'They are the arts indispensable to further learning, for they are the arts of reading, writing, speaking, listening, figuring.

Still reading but learning a lot about true education and the process of guiding our children in their educational pursuits.

Education means the ability to think independently and creatively, and development of the skill of applying one's knowledge in dealing with people and situations in the real world.

Our middle class majority, deeply in personal debt, elects political leaders who increase our benefits. Then we vote them out because we dislike the soaring national debt.

Character forms a life regardless of how obscurely that life is lived and how little light falls on it from the stars.

She was lost in her longing to understand.

With a painter or a sculptor, one cannot begin to alter his works, but an architect has to put up with anything, because he makes utility objects - the building is there to be used, and times change.

I don't let myself 'surf' on the Web, or I would probably drown.

When you're using a long brush, you have your arm at full length. Basically, it exaggerates the movement of your body. But I always start far away and end up really close.

There IS a difference between poetry and prose! Poems should be sonically charged and new to the ear.

I think there are two keys to success. One is to show up. The other one is to keep going. Most people don’t keep going.

The French legend is a very simple one. All really beautiful clothes are designed in the houses of the French couturiers and all women want those clothes.

The water is calm, but the currents pull beneath the surface. Though they can’t be seen, they have the power to drag cats to their deaths.

Honesty first; then courage; then brains - and all are indispensable.