Censorship can be practiced by corporations and other private groups; it just isn’t a violation of the First Amendment. TV networks censor sitcom scripts, family newspapers censor out obscenities and unsuitable topics. Censorship by a monopolistic media industry could theoretically thwart efforts to get worthy points…

We attribute “Talk softly and carry a big stick” to Teddy Roosevelt, but he attributed it to an African proverb. So it’s an old tradition.

I do think we are too quick to demand that people be fired for saying something unacceptable, but this was something else. His remarks were not merely sexist; they demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the sport he was paid to manage. For many years, women’s tennis has been the most compelling part of…

Late success is most satisfying kind.

If our concern is for the inhumane treatment of people in Arizona, cutting the state loose won’t help.

Whiskey “sells almost entirely by reputation.”

I usually finish novels I start but I called it off with Purity in South America and couldn’t finish Gone Girl, either. I have a theory that I really detest long passages about people’s feelings and how they reached their current unsatisfactory mental state. Even more when I’m being deceived to deepen the mystery.

“People that wear white socks with anything other than athletic clothing are an abomination.”

I’ve been waiting for someone to point out that the audience for early draft movie scripts is script readers, producers and directors. If the movie is shot almost everything will end up looking different from the descriptions. The descriptions are intended to grab the interest of the first audience. So the inept…

That last one is pretty much the description of Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar.

It’s not hard work and long hours that explain the success of diverse companies — and I have no doubt that the women who are able to make it to the top work harder and longer than the men on average. It’s the diversity itself that produces innovation and profits. Think different: the most successful companies in…

Public speaking is a skill that can be learned. With preparation and some kind of self-editing. I used to need notes or a script and now can talk about topics I am expert on for any length of time without notes. But back to S. Palin: it’s as though she throws out random thought-shaped nuggets without standard sentence…

“You want to air your balls, buy a car.”

For years when I took the #1 train with the bucket seats designed for children, I stood for the whole ride, even when there were seats available. I read (reed and red) the Times in paper form, and even when I fold it down the middle lengthwise, I have shoulder discomfort when there are people in the seats on both…

This is interesting but why hasn’t there been more of an exegis of John Fogerty’s Bad Moon Rising and the line “There’s a bathroom on the right.” Were they doing coke in there? Was it reinforced against nasty weather? Is it better to face your end with an empty bladder?

I think I dated you. Take another little piece of my heart now, baby. You’re out on the streets lookin good, and baby deep down in your heart I guess you know that it ain’t right.

I just performed a scientific experiment on my desk chair, which has adjustable height. I started with the seat high, and my knees close together but relaxed. I lowered the chair and my knees naturally fell away from each other. When I pressed my knees together, I felt discomfort not in my perfectly normal private…

The crowning moment of any meal of restaurant Chinese food is when there is a small amount of each dish plus rice mixed together in a small exquisitely flavored mound waiting to be finished. They were always meant to be together at last.

Sometimes I feel desperate that I am running out of time to realize my talent (writing a novel no one will read about a goat and crow who travel across the country together — the naturalistic dialogue is a little monotonous) and then I think about Lindsay Lohan and feel even worse. Why, oh why can she not pull herself…

I spent most of 2015 reading “Bully Pulpit” by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I hope that counts.