“Democracy may not prove in the long run to be as efficient as other forms of government, but it has one saving grace: it allows us to know and say that it isn’t.”

Although our interests as citizens vary, each one is an artery to the heart that pumps life through the body politic, and each is important to the health of democracy.

Slow down, especially at the beginning of a speech. You’ll get the audience’s attention by pausing.

Democracy doesn’t begin at the top; it begins at the bottom, when flesh-and-blood human beings fight to rekindle what Arlo Guthrie calls ‘The Patriot’s Dream.

We’re playing our instruments probably more so than most people that I see play their instruments.

Our media and political system has turned into a mutual protection racket.

When you put a camera in front of me, I’m home.

America is the longest argument in the world.

It’s no longer just reporting the headlines of the day, but trying to put the headlines into some context and to add some perspective into what they mean.

Democracy works when people claim it as their own

We have got to have the ugly facts in order to protect us from the official view of reality. Otherwise, we are squeezed empty and filled with what other people want us to think and feel and experience.

You know what’s the rage this year? …Hats.

There’s 1,000 ways into addiction 1,000 ways out.

David Rockefeller is the most conspicuous representative today of the ruling class, a multinational fraternity of men who shape the global economy and manage the flow of its capital.

The corporate right and the political right declared class warfare on working people a quarter of a century ago and they’ve won.

Hyperbole was to Lyndon Johnson what oxygen is to life.

Our children are being raised by appliances.

For me the most interesting thing about Leigh Bowery was the way he used his body as a style statement. He was a big guy, but, because he was tall and had long legs, he looked in proportion – even sexy – despite being overweight by conventional standards.

Sugar Ray Leonard’s retirements last about as long as Elizabeth Taylor’s marriages.

The second thing is, if you want to do something about global warming, you have to think much more long-term.

It has long been recognized that an essential element in protecting human rights was a widespread knowledge among the population of what their rights are and how they can be defended.

The bandage will remain on the eyes of Justice as long as the Capitalist has the cut, shuffle, and deal.

We wanted to do a sequel with Jim and Jeff. They said that the word was that Jim didn’t want to do any sequels. We approached him and he said he would do it, but not until next year. New Line said it was too long to wait.

Decide to be your best. In the long run the world is going to want and have the best and that might as well be you.

When I got to Saturday Night Live, it was a lot like going from pre-school to Harvard, and it took a long time to figure stuff out.