“Anything that's not functional is merely decorative.”

“Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly.”

“What better allies are there than those organized around their own needs and demands, a functional and not merely charitable alliance?”

“They believed that prediction was just a function of keeping track of things. If you knew enough, you could predict anything. That's been cherished scientific belief since Newton.'And?'Chaos theory throws it right out the window.”

“...I still cannot tap on your walls and discover by the hollow or firm sounds which of your walls are merely decorative, and which ones hold everything up.”

“And concerning anything in this society involved in helping Negroes, the federal government shows an inability to function. But it can function in South Vietnam, in the Congo, in Berlin, and in other places where it has no business. But it can't function in Mississippi.”