“Reciprocal accountability, or criticism [is] the only known antidote to error.”

“When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else.”

“True brilliance has a well-known positive correlation with decency, much of the time--a fact the rest of us rely on, more than we ever know. The real world doesn't roil with as many crazed artists, psychotic generals, dyspeptic writers, maniacal statesmen, insatiable tycoons, or mad scientists as you see in dramas.”

“Only people with full stomachs become environmentalists.”

“Only a knowledgeable, empowered and vocal citizenry can perform well in democracy.”

“The notion of a universe filled with cowards... who stay cowardly FOREVER, no matter how advanced they become... seems no[t] only unimaginative and temporally myopic, but deeply dismal, as well.”

“If there are still honest-smart men and women within those old and noble traditions, they should think carefully, observe and diagnose the illness. They should face the contradiction. Discuss the conflation. And then do as Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and many others have done. Choose the miracle of creative competition over an idolatry of cash.They should stand up..”