“It is pretty ironic that the so-called ‘least advanced’ people are the ones taking the lead in trying to protect all of us.”

Human language appears to be a unique phenomenon, without significant analogue in the animal world.

The United States is unusual among the industrial democracies in the rigidity of the system of ideological control – ‘indoctrination’, we might say – exercised through the mass media.

They come from acceptance of American values, not a rejection of them, and recognition that they’re rejected by the U.S. government and by U.S. elites, which does lead to hatred and anger.

Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media.

There’s a tremendous gap between public opinion and public policy.

Every time there has been an effort by the Haitian people to overcome the misery and poverty that comes from 200 years of bitter attacks, really bitter, the U.S. steps in and blocks it.

If you don’t like what someone has to say, argue with them.

It’s a near miracle that nuclear war has so far been avoided.

The probability of apocalypse soon cannot be realistically estimated, but it is surely too high for any sane person to contemplate with equanimity.

Death and genitals are things that frighten people, and when people are frightened, they develop means of concealment and aggression. It is common sense.

The Federal Reserve has an official commitment to two different policies. One is to prevent inflation from getting too high. The second is to maintain high employment.

You cannot control your own population by force, but it can be distracted by consumption.

As soon as questions of will or decision or reason or choice of action arise, human science is at a loss.

But China, they’ve been there for 3,000 years and are paying no attention to the barbarians and don’t see any need to.

But I would not intend this to imply that in all imaginable circumstances one must, necessarily, act in accordance with this general responsibility.

Debt is a trap, especially student debt, which is enormous, far larger than credit card debt.

Do we not all agree to call rapid thought and noble impulse by the name of inspiration?

All makers must leave room for the acts of the spirit. But they have to work hard and carefully, and wait patiently, to deserve them.

The completest submissiveness is your lot, and that is all.

There are times in all of our lives when a reliance on gut or intuition just seems more appropriate – when a particular course of action just feels right.

It’s a rare gift, to know where you need to be, before you’ve been to all the places you don’t need to be.

At quite uncertain times and places, The atoms left their heavenly path, And by fortuitous embraces, Engendered all that being hath. And though they seem to cling together, And form ‘associations’ here, Yet, soon or late, they burst their tether, And through the depths of space career.

For ‘Conan,’ I had to eat boiled chicken breast and work out all the time and basically eat like a bird every two hours and stay ripped.

I sing a lot, so if I have lipstick, it gets all over the microphone, so I rarely wear lipstick.