“It was civil disobedience that won them their civil rights.”

“Proximity to power has an unsurprising ability to mutate a politician's spinal cord into bright yellow jelly.”

“That natural disasters are required to provide Americans with a glimpse of reality in their own country is an indication of the deep rot infecting the official political culture.”

“Monotonous talk of the end of American hegemony, the universal clich of the period, is mostly a way of avoiding mounting a serious opposition to it.”

“The heathen could only be eliminated as a force if their culture was completely erased.”

“This is the permanent tension that lies at the heart of a capitalist democracy and is exacerbated in times of crisis. In order to ensure the survival of the richest, it is democracy that has to be ...”

“I am a person before I am anything else. I never say I am a writer. I never say I am an artist...I am a person who does those things.”

“The point, I decided, wasn't to have the autobiography or even the memories. The point was who I became when I wrote.”

“The willingness to reach inside every part of yourself opens the door to total understanding. You place your entire identity on the line, not just an isolated part. This may sound daunting, but act...”

“I think that when you are famous every weakness is exaggerated.”

“My strength and my weakness are twins in the same womb.”

“Only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg.”