"The proper reply to right wing religiosity is not to insist that politics and religion don't mix. This is the stock response of the left."

"The attempt to redefine the family as a purely voluntary arrangement grows out of the modern delusion that people can keep all their options open all the time."

"Most women are pragmatists who have allowed extremists on the left and right to manipulate the family issue for their own purposes."

"Ostensibly rigorous and realistic, contemporary conservatism is an ideology of denial. Its symbol is a smile button."

"I love the excess of Christmas. The shopping season that begins in September, the bad pop star recordings of Christmas carols, the decorations that don't know when to come down."

"Love is not weakness. It is strong. Only the sacrament of marriage can contain it."

"As to the deceit perpetrated upon women, let it pass, for, when love is in the way, men and women as a general rule dupe each other."

"I've seen women who don't have great relationships with their dads, and it all comes down to this: You have to tell girls you love them every day."