Overheard

"Constitutional democracy provides a guarantee that the content of the laws will be just. A large number of constitutional devices, including representative democracy, competitive and periodic elections, and a free press, are designed to ensure the just content of laws."

"People will tell you, "Reach for the stars." That's a prescription for self-delusion. A better idea is to reach for the low-hanging fruit that everyone left behind. Don't wait for Mr. Right when you've got Mr. Reasonably Acceptable right in front of you. Scavenging has its rewards."

"Da Vinci too knew the power of the understated smile. And he was a pretty clever fellow."

"Not all pixels are created equal."

"This auto reply was produced in a factory that also produces peanuts, almonds and other nut products."

"Living for the moment has its rewards, but life insists on shoving us into the future. Supposedly we get wiser, and thus I'm supposed to offer advice. Usually the advice you hear at a graduation is something along the line of "climb every mountain." I think that's a bad idea. You need to learn to delegate. You should learn to say to people: You take that mountain, you take that other mountain, I'll monitor the situation from headquarters."

"What is morality?" she asked.

"Judgement to tell right and wrong, vision to see the truth, courage to act on it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price."

"I got a great e-mail from my friend the other day. It said, 'Let's steal something. Call me.' "

"There are a lot more people in the world than there really needs to be."

"Why do you worry so much about great men?" he asked. "What are you, a hero worshipper of some kind?"

"Mr. Taggart, what else is there to look up to?"

Once, an elderly professor of literature, Mrs. Taggart's friend, saw [the three children] on top of a pile in a junk yard, dismantling the carcass of an automobile. He stopped, shook his head and said to Francisco, "A young man of your position ought to spend his time in libraries, absorbing the culture of the world." "What do you think I'm doing?" asked Francisco.

She walked past the door of a night club. A couple came staggering out to a taxicab. The girl had blurred eyes, a perspiring face, an ermine cape and a beautiful evening gown that had slipped off one shoulder like a slovenly housewife's bathrobe.... Her escort steered her, gripping her naked arm; his face did not have the expression of a man anticipating a romantic adventure, but the sly look of a boy out to write obscenties on fences.

"f***ing spammers!! im angry, your blog nice but here is too many spammers"

"Having this iPod is like having a sound track to my life."

"Wherever the idea came from, the translation of human will into machine movement via a single stick may be one of the most overlooked achievements of the last 100 years."

"Because of the situation we're in now, I would not want my son to serve," he said. "It's the policy that I'm against, not the military."