“The idea that America exists in a culture of violence is bullshit. What America exists in is a culture of Kardashian.”

“Superhero movies and comic books teach a lesson that runs directly counter to the culture-of-violence idea: guns are for bad guys too cowardly to fight like men.”

“The assertion that Americans love violence and bathe in it daily is a self-serving lie promulgated by fundamentalist religious types and America's propaganda-savvy gun-pimps. It's believed by people who don't read novels, play video games, or go to many movies”

“Whenever anything happens in America, they have to gold-plate it, like baby shoes. That way you can forget it.”

“All of this was well meaning bullshit. But bullshit is still bullshit and will never be mistaken for McDonald's secret sauce.”

“They had become a fixed star in the shifting firmament of the high school's relationships, the acknowledged Romeo and Juliet. And she knew with sudden hatefulness that there was one couple like them in every white suburban high school in America.”

“Symbolism exists to adorn and enrich, not to create an artificial sense of profundity.”