For all their faults, right-wing authoritarian regimes more easily accept democratic reforms than left-wing totalitarian states.

There is no pure free-market economy.

A government is not legitimate merely because it exists.

I was a woman in a man's world. I was a Democrat in a Republican administration. I was an intellectual in a world of bureaucrats. I talked differently. This may have made me a bit like an ink blot.

Words can destroy. What we call each other ultimately becomes what we think of each other, and it matters.

I conclude that it is a fundamental mistake to think that salvation, justice, or virtue come through merely human institutions.

Democrats can't get elected unless things get worse-and things won't get worse unless they get elected.

Truth, which is important to a scholar, has to be concrete. And there is nothing more concrete than dealing with babies, burps and bottles, frogs and mud.

History is a better guide than good intentions.

What takes place in the Security Council more closely resembles a mugging than either a political debate or an effort at problem-solving.

Power ... is not an end in itself, but is an instrument that must be used toward an end.

One is not to win the world, he has to win the home (family).

I know, ” he says, and it’s the strangest thing. I can tell he’s smiling, slow and syrupy, when he says it.

Many fear mistakes. In TV and films you just re-shoot the scene. In life do the same and just shoot a re-take.

The compact which exists between the North and the South is a covenant with death and an agreement with hell.

People are moving into modes of participation and self-generation, which apply to everything from museums and television to architecture.

I'm sorry. I didn't know you were coming or I'd have cleaned up a little more. My life, I mean, not just the apartment.

Gram for gram, spirulina could be the most nutritious and well-rounded food on the planet, which stores almost indefinitely.

We can't do this without you," I managed at last. "Everyone talks about my powers, but you're the badass here.

Ideals and morality are often spoken of as virtual antimatter to the behaviors allegedly needed to maximize profits.