Quotes from book

The Partly Cloudy Patriot

“Being a nerd, which is to say going too far and caring too much about a subject, is the best way to make friends I know.”

“Along with voting, jury duty, and paying taxes, goofing off is one of the central obligations of American citizenship.”

“The true American patriot is by definition skeptical of the government.”

“There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind who alphabetize their record collections, and the kind who don't.”

“In these fast and fickle times, it’s nice to know that there are some things you can always count on: the enduring brilliance of the last page of The Great Gatsby; the near-religious harmonies of the Beach Boys’ “California Girls”; and the lifelong friendship of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.”

“Just the other day, I was in my neighborhood Starbucks, waiting for the post office to open. I was enjoying a chocolatey cafe mocha when it occurred to me that to drink a mocha is to gulp down the entire history of the New World. From the Spanish exportation of Aztec cacao, and the Dutch invention of the chemical process for making cocoa, on down to the capitalist empire of Hershey, PA, and the lifestyle marketing of Seattle's Starbucks, the modern mocha is a bittersweet concoction of imperialism, genocide, invention, and consumerism served with whipped cream on top. No wonder it costs so much.”