Where cultural representations do not reach out beyond themselves, there is the danger that they will function as the surrogates for activism, that they will constitute both the beginning and the end of political practice.
It's not that the Irish are cynical. It's rather that they have a wonderful lack of respect for everything and everybody.
I was taught that the human brain was the crowning glory of evolution so far, but I think it's a very poor scheme for survival.
Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things.
I am interested in physical medicine because my father was. I am interested in medical research because I believe in it. I am interested in arthritis because I have it.
When beggars and shoeshine boys, barbers and beauticians can tell you how to get rich it is time to remind yourself that there is no more dangerous illusion than the belief that one can get something for nothing.
Anyone taken as an individual is tolerably sensible—as a member of a crowd, he at once becomes a blockhead.
I wish to suggest that ample opportunity does exist for dissent, for protest, and for nonconformity. But I must also say that the right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
