American journalists tend to treat inequality as a fact of life. But it needn't be.
My father worked for governments all his life as an engineer and public works director.
'In Memoriam' has been my companion for all my grownup life.
I can't sit down long enough to absorb any kind of learning.
I've learned a lot from the masters of orchestration, like Ravel and Stravinsky.
I am certainly not an intellectual relativist, nor a moral relativist.
There's no point breaking a lot of crockery unnecessarily.
We need comedies in the world! We need to laugh, it's all so hard.
The optimum population is, then, less than the maximum.
I wanted everybody to like me. I thought I was one shuck and jive away in every direction.
As long as there are Japanese tourists, there will be a market for the Old South.
Mortality defines the human condition.
I always seem to be reading several books at once.
As humans we like to laugh at our fears, we like to whistle in the dark.
It was necessary, as a black historian, to have a personal agenda.
It is the goal of the American university to be the brains of the republic.
If we are to preserve culture we must continue to create it.
Americans, among the marryingest people in the world, are also the divorcingest.
There was a time when fire and story would fall asleep in unison. It was dream time.
I liked Norman Lear's ideology that you could trust an audience to stay with you.
Deep breaths are very helpful at shallow parties.
