“Lawyers for abused kids can challenge bad agency decisions because they can always bring a lawsuit. A volunteer cannot.#barahona”

“[I] settled down with the Daily News and the Post, glad to be back with journalism where all murders are “brutal,” all prosecutors are “tough,” and all blondes are “attractive.” And any lawyer who cooperates with the reporter is “high-powered.”

“Fear is an enemy that can be killed only at close range. The closest range of all is intimacy. The deeper the fear is embedded in one’s spirit, the more vulnerable it is.”

“He said when the Lord made people He made them all the same for starters. But life marks people. If you know the way, you can read them like maps.”

“Perfection cannot be achieved by men," he told me. "Our highest calling is the pursuit of perfection. My haiku will be finished when I die, but it will never be perfect.”

“In my world, people are always plotting. Youhave no idea of all the crimes people in business commit everyday. Like it was nothing. Or there’s a set of special rules for them.Remember when Bush made that whole speech about ‘corporateethics’ last year? What a fraud. You think stuff like Enron orWorldCom is an aberration? It’s only the tip. Business is a religion.Probably the only one practiced all over the world.”

“Roots are nice, but a tree can’t run.”