Alexandra Petri

In general, sincerity is awkward.

— Alexandra Petri

Awkward is a state of being.

— Alexandra Petri

Millennials don't go to rallies.

— Alexandra Petri

Obama isn't funny.

— Alexandra Petri

No one has debates on Twitter.

— Alexandra Petri

As long as I'm writing stuff and people are reading it, I'll be happy.

— Alexandra Petri

Hi, my name is Alexandra, and I'm a netaholic.

— Alexandra Petri

All children, except two, grow up: Peter Pan and Donald Trump Jr.

— Alexandra Petri

MS Paint was my creative outlet for many years.

— Alexandra Petri

They will wrest 'dull words' from my cold dead hands.

— Alexandra Petri

Almost nothing anyone told me about Harvard has been accurate.

— Alexandra Petri

Bad things happen, and you can only be so prepared.

— Alexandra Petri

It turns out that in order to think well, knowledge helps.

— Alexandra Petri

It's easier to find the joke in something when you think, 'This - this is ridiculous.'

— Alexandra Petri

All the young voters who flocked to Obama in droves grew up watching 'The Daily Show' and the 'Colbert Report.'

— Alexandra Petri

At Harvard, people like to impart the idea that you are a mover and shaker.

— Alexandra Petri

People talk to pass the time, share information, and entertain each other.

— Alexandra Petri

Books are wonderful. They are like people, except they mind less when you put them down and wander off to eat something.

— Alexandra Petri

By isolating ourselves from those with whose opinions we disagree, we lose the ability to defend our beliefs.

— Alexandra Petri

President Obama deserves our unalloyed praise for hastening Osama bin Laden's demise.

— Alexandra Petri

When police are shutting down cameras, it is a sign that they know the truth is not going to be kind to…

— Alexandra Petri

Stereotyped as convention-going, pocket-protector-wearing, chess-playing, infrequently-showering types, nerds are one of our society's most ridiculed groups. And, for a university with an…

— Alexandra Petri

Woodstock didn't define a generation because everyone showed up or those who did were a perfectly representative sample. It defined a generation…

— Alexandra Petri

Bills ought to be passed with deliberation by committees. Change should be achieved in a bipartisan manner. Incrementally, day by day, we…

— Alexandra Petri

Harvard prides itself on its diversity - economic, racial, social, geographical - but it remains intellectually segregated. It's not what conservative commentators…

— Alexandra Petri

I majored in extracurriculars, honestly. I joined the Harvard Stand Up Comedy Society, which is a ragtag band of misfits. I wrote…

— Alexandra Petri

Serious beliefs are awkward, especially religious ones. It's not that there's anything wrong with them, it's just that people's real, heart-felt, deeply…

— Alexandra Petri

Worst case scenario, nothing I do has any value or purpose, but if I can make someone laugh, I'm at least as…

— Alexandra Petri

Nearly everything faith-related that I have done at Harvard has been followed by free food, from going to services at Harvard's Episcopal…

— Alexandra Petri

Everyone praises Harvard 'for the students.' But what makes Harvard's students so great is that they are, in many ways, a cross-section…

— Alexandra Petri

There is something about a mortarboard that gives otherwise sane and normal people the overwhelming urge to burden you with advice. Some…

— Alexandra Petri

Thanks to postmodernism, we tend to see all facts as meaningless trivia, no one more vital than any other. Yet this disregard…

— Alexandra Petri

You can be brilliant in some ways and despicable in others. You can be a clean, upright, moral individual in your private…

— Alexandra Petri

In high school, you at least have to get up at a reasonable hour and show up at places on time. College,…

— Alexandra Petri

No matter how successful you are, no matter how good you are at what you do, even if a golden path rolls…

— Alexandra Petri

I would say 'competence' actually might be slightly more important than passion. I understand that it is important to feel strongly about…

— Alexandra Petri

Comedy and politics have a lot in common. Both are great ways to pick up chicks - just look at Governor Spitzer.…

— Alexandra Petri

Journalists run many risks. It comes with the profession.

— Alexandra Petri

Good laughs melt out of memory pretty quickly.

— Alexandra Petri

If awkward has an antithesis, it is probably Barack Obama.

— Alexandra Petri