Long words, fat talk — they may tell us something about ourselves. Has the passion for fat in the language increased as self-confidence has waned?
People seem to enjoy things more when they know a lot of other people have been left out of the pleasure.
It seems to be a law of American life that whatever enriches us anywhere except in the wallet inevitably becomes uneconomic.
A railroad station? That was sort of a primitive airport, only you didn’t have to take a cab 20 miles out of town to reach it.
Americans treat history like a cookbook. Whenever they are uncertain what to do next, they turn to history and look up the proper recipe, invariably designated “the lesson of history.
The best thing about being President is that it gets you out of American life. I don’t know what the theory is behind this, but it is a fact. The first thing we do with a President is shunt him off to a siding where nothing American can ever happen to him.
A solved problem creates two new problems, and the best prescription for happy living is not to solve any more problems.
Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things.
