I believe patriotism comes from the heart. Patriot...

I also believe that government has no business telling us how we should live our lives. I think our lifestyle choices should be left up to us. What we do in our private lives is none of the government's business. That position rules out the Republican Party for me.

Government's role should be only to keep the playing field level, and to work hand in hand with business on issues such as employment. But beyond this, to as great an extent as possible, it should get the hell out of the way.

Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business.

The really frightening thing about middle age is the knowledge that you'll grow out of it.

If repression has indeed been the fundamental link between power, knowledge, and sexuality since the classical age, it stands to reason that we will not be able to free ourselves from it except at a considerable cost.

We are approaching a new age of synthesis. Knowledge cannot be merely a degree or a skill... it demands a broader vision, capabilities in critical thinking and logical deduction without which we cannot have constructive progress.

We live in an age of instant knowledge. And there's almost a sense of entitlement to that.

1 month ago the American people stopped to remember the third anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war. We thought first and foremost of the selflessness, patriotism and heroism by our troops, our National Guard and Reserves.

Love and business and family and religion and art and patriotism are nothing but shadows of words when a man's starving!

For a writer only one form of patriotism exists: his attitude toward language.

I define nothing. Not beauty, not patriotism. I take each thing as it is, without prior rules about what it should be.