In our fast-food nation, we tend to think that the intellectual life, like everything else, can be had pre-chewed and in bulk just for the asking. But that attitude is a grievous insult to the people who spend their lives… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
Smokers, like so many of us, are mavericks when they're healthy but parasites when they're not. They trash their bodies and then expect the… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
Isn't it curious how quickly a conservative becomes a libertarian when he's caught sinning? There's a lesson in that somewhere, if only the Christian… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
The feminist establishment has made choice a woman's issue. The Christian right has made life a religious issue. Both have made loyalty crucial. If… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
The twin causes Bin Laden invokes are Islam and Arab self-determination, and armies rise to serve him. No need to convert or dogmatize. Believers… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
Private academic institutions admit the children of alumni because substantial parts of their operating budgets come from the financial contributions of alumni. — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
My gender has roots in my brain, possibly biochemical ones, living very close to the roots of my self-image... Far, far closer than my… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
Race is not the stumbling block to progress it once was, in large part because the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it illegal… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
Practically as soon as the towers hit the ground on Sept. 11, pundits of the left like Noam Chomsky and Susan Sontag took advantage… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
Americans love a morality tale, especially one that's been taken from real life. We like facile categories of good and bad, and we like… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
People who dislike Oprah's Book Club dislike it for the same reason that they dislike Barnes & Noble. The fact that the two do… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
The candidates who get themselves elected are illusionists and prevaricators of the first order. We expect this of them. They're a reflection of us,… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
I learned that gender identity runs very deep in all of us, very near the center of our sense of self and messing with… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
You've got to lie skillfully to get elected, because you've got to convince a whole zoo of self-involved ciphers that you've got every one… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
Publishers and writers are desperate to cash in on the latest craze, be it baseball, the founding fathers or jihad. Their livelihoods depend on… — Norah Vincent Copy Share Image
