"Society bristles with enigmas which look hard..." - Quote by Honore De Balzac

“Nothing is a greater impediment to being on good terms with others than being ill at ease with yourself.”

“There are two histories : official history, lying, and then secret history, where you find the real causes of events.”

“Love or hatred must constantly increase between two persons who are always together; every moment fresh reasons are found for loving or hating better.”

“And what is a good citizen? Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual. Schools are maintained in order to bring this uniformity up to the highest possible point. A school is a hopper into which children are heaved while they are still young and tender; therein they are pressed into certain standard shapes and covered from head to heels with official rubber-stamps.”

“We veneer civilization by doing unkind things in a kind way.”

“If I know your sect, I anticipate your argument”

“I didn't have a perfect model, but I wanted to try to blend my own personal reflections and experiences with this broader canvas to see how a lot of the narratives we have about economy and foreign policy got stuck. Because we have these categories of liberal, conservative, free marketer, open government - all these stereotypes about our politics and the categories we try to put things in are inadequate to this sort of complex, ambiguous, sometimes contradictory experience we have as ordinary people and that I have as an elected official.”

“All large political doctrines are rich in difficult problems - problems that are quite above the average citizen's reach. And that is not strange, since they are also above the reach of the ablest minds in the country; after all the fuss and all the talk, not one of those doctrines has been conclusively proven to be the right one and the best.”

“Simplicity is the most difficult thing to secure in this world; it is the last limit of experience and the last effort of genius.”