“The reading public isn't born that doesn't think foreigners are either funny or faintly sinister.”

“The problem isn't that Johnny can't read. The problem isn't even that Johnny can't think. The problem is that Johnny doesn't know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.”

“The panic over public health care is funny and sad, since America has had death panels and sinister bureaucrats for years. They're called Aetna, Humana, and Wellpoint, they make a killing, figuratively and literally.”

“Foreigners are funny”

“Responsible journalism is hard. It isn't public relations. A responsible journalist digs for the truth, she doesn't just take her subject's agenda and run with it. That isn't journalism, that's "gossip," and like all gossip, it doesn't do anything positive for anyone.”

“Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying, or meditating, or endeavoring something for the public good.”

“It is very funny, but you do not always have to see people to love them. Just think about it, and see if it isn't so.”

“When a reviewer says that Malamud is second only to Bellow, it means he really isn't thinking about either of them. When he's reading Malamud he's thinking about Bellow, and when he's reading Bellow he's thinking about Roth. This is the essence of the ratings game: distraction. Children play it all the time. "Is this the biggest bridge in the world?" "No, it's the third biggest." "Oh."”

“Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them either.”

“A theologian is born by living, nay dying and being damned, not by thinking, reading, or speculating.”