“That’s all accurate and of some importance, but of far more importance is the fact that elections just don’t take place, not in any meaningful sense of the term ‘election.’”

Rational discussion is useful only when there is a significant base of shared assumptions.

Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.

The United States and Britain loved him. He was supported until the last minute.

What happened in the missile crisis in October 1962 has been prettified to make it look as if acts of courage and thoughtfulness abounded.

It could be – and it has been argued, in my view rather plausibly, though neuroscientists don’t like it – that neuroscience for the last couple hundred years has been on the wrong track.

The invasion of Iraq, particularly, gave a big shot in the arm to the jihadi extremists.

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

I didn’t pay my taxes for years.

There’s very little dislike of Americans in the world, shown by repeated polls, and the dissatisfaction – that is, the hatred and the anger.

The godfather does not accept disobedience, even from a small storekeeper who doesn’t pay his protection money.

I took no position on just where they stand on the scale of horrors relative to Auschwitz, the bombing of Chungking, Lidice, and so on.

The public is not to see where power lies, how it shapes policy, and for what ends. Rather, people are to hate and fear one another.

There are very few people who are going to look into the mirror and say, ‘That person I see is a savage monster;’ instead, they make up some construction that justifies what they do.

The Republican Party has become overwhelmingly so extreme that it’s hardly a traditional political party anymore.

There’s never been anything like the so-called Vietnam Syndrome: it’s mostly a fabrication.

The European Central Bank has only the first. It has no commitment to keep employment up.

Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy.

Vulnerability is our most accurate measurement of courage.

Eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears.

One of the hardest things in the world is to convey a meaning accurately from one mind to another.

One of the hardest things in the world is to convey a meaning accurately from one mind to another.

I’ve given up on being accurately portrayed in the media.

Healthy scepticism is the basis of all accurate observation.

The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.