“Lee is the greatest military genius in America, myself not excepted.”

“Our greatest polluter is the government (i.e., U.S. military), not corporate America. Putting government in charge of protecting the environment is like asking the fox to guard the hen house.”

“Nothing and no one makes sense to a genius except his own mind. Meaning, he doesn’t trust anyone except if you’re a genius too.”

“I have nothing to declare except my genius.”

“The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.”

“Excessive fear and self-doubt that were the greatest detractors of personal genius.”

“The man whose action habitually bears the stamp of his mind is a genius, but the greatest genius is not always equal to himself, or he would cease to be human.”

“Perhaps there has been, at some point in history, some great power whose elevation was exempt from the violent exploitation of other human bodies. If there has been, I have yet to discover it. But this banality of violence can never excuse America, because … America believes itself exceptional, the greatest and noblest nation ever to exist.”

“The essence of immorality is the tendency to make an exception of myself.”

“I recently received a touching letter that says a lot about the state of America in these difficult times, a letter from a fourth grade girl with a father in the military. As much as I don't want my dad to fight, she wrote, I'm willing to give him to you. This is a precious gift. The greatest she could give. This young girl knows what America is all about.”