It is easy enough to define what the Commonwealth is not. Indeed this is quite a popular pastime.

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.

There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers.

Trying to be fascinating is an asinine position to be in.

Punk was defined by an attitude rather than a musical style.

I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning.

Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

In no instance have… the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.

The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom.

We call a man a bigot or a slave of dogma because he is a thinker who has thought thoroughly and to a definite end.

Hoover was a patriot in his heart, but he definitely exceeded his power.

In our time political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.

Nothing is so fatal to religion as indifference.

Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted… but to weigh and consider.

I’m not a macroeconomics person.

For, if a good speaker, never so eloquent, does not see into the fact, and is not speaking the truth of that – is there a more horrid kind of object in creation?

I shall proceed from the simple to the complex. But in war more than in any other subject we must begin by looking at the nature of the whole; for here more than elsewhere the part and the whole must always be thought of together.

History should be written as philosophy.

It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.

A witty saying proves nothing.

If you’re in business or politics, you need to have an intense understanding of what’s going on around you.

The secret of ugliness consists not in irregularity, but in being uninteresting.

The concept of Kimye has more cultural significance than what Page Six could write.

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Punk is musical freedom. It’s saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster’s terms, ‚nirvana‘ means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that’s pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock.

Criticism is prejudice made plausible.

I’m not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose… it’ll be much harder to detect.

If a victory is told in detail, one can no longer distinguish it from a defeat.

Freedom in general may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires.

The ‚free-floating intellectual‘ may occupy himself with problems because of their inherent interest and importance, perhaps to little effect.

I am prepared to resort to anything, to submit to anything, for the sake of the commonwealth.

It amazes me sometimes that even intelligent people will analyze a situation or make a judgement after only recognizing the standard or traditional structure of a piece.

The intersection of law, politics, and technology is going to force a lot of good thinking.

Do not go gentle into that good night but rage, rage against the dying of the light.

I think the definition of a book is changing.

Die, v.: To stop sinning suddenly.

It is absolutely impossible to transcend the laws of nature. What can change in historically different circumstances is only the form in which these laws expose themselves.

Pop is totally results-oriented and there is a very strong feedback loop.

The racing is quite boring, sometimes. It’s hard to see how it pulls in fans.

Politics I supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, and wretches hang that jurymen may dine.

There is good and mediocre writing within every genre.

This administration is going to be cussed and discussed for years to come.

Women. They are a complete mystery.

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.

There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted.

Truth is weirder than any fiction I’ve seen.

We dissect failure a lot more than we dissect success.

Political necessities sometime turn out to be political mistakes.

Politics are a very unsatisfactory game.

Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.

If you look at ‚Blade Runner,‘ it’s been cut sixteen ways from Sunday, and there are all kinds of different versions of it.

Worth seeing? Yes; but not worth going to see.

It’s not easy to define poetry.

‚Kiss Land‘ is like a horror movie.

Politics… have always been the systematic organization of hatreds.

Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation with the maximum of opportunity.

For all right judgment of any man or things it is useful, nay, essential, to see his good qualities before pronouncing on his bad.