The [Ronald] Reagan administration told the business world that they were not going to enforce the labor laws.

Students who acquire large debts putting themselves through school are unlikely to think about changing society. When you trap people in a system of debt, they can't afford the time to think.

The general population doesn't know what's happening, and it doesn't even know that it doesn't know.

That's the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don't work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.

Jingoism, racism, fear, religious fundamentalism: these are the ways of appealing to people if you're trying to organize a mass base of support for policies that are really intended to crush them.

There's a good reason why nobody studies history, it just teaches you too much.

The world is a very puzzling place. If you're not willing to be puzzled, you just become a replica of someone else's mind.

Democratic societies can't force people. Therefore they have to control what they think.

Nobody should have any illusions. The United States has essentially a one-party system and the ruling party is the business party.

If you want to control a population... give them a God to worship.

A language is not just words. It's a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is. It's all embodied in a language.

I'm not sure if there's one right place I'm supposed to be, he said, but I know a couple of wrong places I'd give a second try in a heartbeat.

Life *is* complex, and, in many ways, life *is* beyond our comprehension today...Sometimes important questions have maddeningly complex or inconvenient answers that neither satisfy nor soothe.

The cat seldom interferes with other people's rights. His intelligence keeps him from doing many of the fool things that complicate life.

Honestly, happy. This happened for a reason. By having to answer that question in front of a national audience, God was testing my character and faith. I'm glad I stayed true to myself.

When somebody tells you there's something wrong with your book they're almost always right, when they tell you how to fix it they're almost always wrong.

It's really cool to be around people that are younger than you who are really cool with being open about stuff.

The artist is the only lover; he alone has the pure vision of beauty, and love is the vision of the soul when it is permitted to gaze upon immortal beauty.

Go out into the world, find work that you love, learn from your mistakes, and work hard to make a difference.

Don't cross a river if it is four feet deep on average.

I can't cater to everyone's needs and what they're going to be offended by; that's one freedom I have.