“Our students wanted to know everything: but only the newest theory seemed to them worth bothering with. Knowing nothing of the intellectual achievements of the past, they kept fresh and intact their enthusiasm for 'the latest thing'. Fashion dominated their interest: they valued ideas not for themselves but for the prestige that they could wring from them.”

“As much as she admired our ancestors' wealth, it bothered Mom that Riegel was so consumed by making money. "Your brother knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

“There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.”

“We'll erase those who want to use us for our family prestige......and erase those girls who try to apply their patronizing psychology theories on us......and those stupid adults who only judge us by our outward appearances....We'll erase them all from our consciousness.”

“Everything worth something, if we value them.”

“Here, both the humblest and the most illustrious citizens alike know that nothing is owed to them and that everything has to be earned. That's what constitutes the moral value of America. America did not teach men the idea of freedom; she taught them how to practice it.”