Character in decay is the theme of the great bulk of superior fiction.

Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.

Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.

Every atom in me feels composed of lead. This is what dying is: a pull to the ground.

Referring to an event in an untold story is a powerful technique rarely used.

Forget mistakes. Forget failure. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day.

I knew I really didn’t look that good, and that Edward Weston had glorified me, but it was a very pleasant thing to be glorified and I couldn’t wait to go back for more.

Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people!

For the worst things of our lives, it is sometimes the best way, to never speak of them again.

The left-leaning thinking that dominates the movie business follows a common liberal instinct to deny the spiritual dimension to every problem, thereby profoundly compounding the difficulties.

Due to budget cutbacks, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.

I don't understand if you get caught in a fight, but take it out on a room, how that implies some psychiatric disorder.

I own nothing; I just stay with friends all over the country.