"At best the family teaches the finest things human beings can learn from one another generosity and love. But it is also, all too often, where we learn nasty things like hate, rage and shame."

"In fact, there is clear evidence of black intellectual superiority: in 1984, 92 percent of blacks voted to retire Ronald Reagan, compared to only 36 percent of whites."

"Medical debts are the number-one cause of bankruptcy in America."

"The secret of the truly successful, I believe, is that they learned very early in life how not to be busy. They saw through that adage, repeated to me so often in childhood, that anything worth doing is worth doing well."

"Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning."

"I don't think, generally speaking, people become writers because they were the really good, really cool, attractive kid in class. I'll be honest. This is our revenge for people who were much better looking and more popular than us. I was a bit like that, I suppose."

"The prompt assimilation of that intelligence will be essential if we are to avoid another September 11th."

"It is a timeless truth that time is the most impartial judge; it reveals all pretenses and rewards all patience — an essential principle for the reflective life."