"Humans have a fraught relationship with beasts. They are our companions and our chattel, our family members and our laborers, our household pets and our household pests. We love them and cage them, admire them and abuse them. And, of course, we cook and eat them."

"A close family member once offered his opinion that I exhibit the phone manners of a goat, then promptly withdrew the charge - out of fairness to goats."

"There aren't a lot of ironclad rules of family life, but here's one: No matter how much your parents deny it - and here's betting they deny it a lot - they have a favorite child. And if you're a parent, so do you."

"When it comes to raising civilized kids there are no hard rules, but there are two things on which most parents agree: Boys are generally wilder than girls, and adolescents are wilder than kids of any other age. If you've got an adolescent boy, you're in the sweet spot for trouble."

"The truth is that sometimes it is hard even for me to recognize the Hillary Clinton that other people see."

"It is a subtle truth that when purpose is clear, every obstacle transforms into a stepping stone."

"I prefer a pleasant vice to an annoying virtue."

"Nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth."