The More Prosperous And Settled A Nation,

Democracy Is A Difficult Art Of Government, Demanding Of Its Citizens High Ratios Of Courage And Literacy, And At The Moment We Lack Both The Necessary Habits Of Mind And A Sphere Of Common Reference.

[for American Consumer Society], The Country's Reserves Of Ignorance Constitute A Natural Resource As Precious As The Mississippi River Or The Long-lost Herds Of Buffalo.

Tardiness Is Next To Wickedness In A Society Relentless In Its Consumption Of Time As Both A Good And A Service--as Tweet And Instagram, Film Clip And Sound Bite, As Sporting Event, Investment Opportunity, Tinder Hookup, And Interest Rate--its Value Measured Not By Its Texture Or Its Substance But By The Speed Of Its Delivery, A Distinction Apparent To Andy Warhol When He Supposedly Said That Any Painting That Takes Longer Than Five Minutes To Make Is A Bad Painting.

The Days Of My Youth I Remember As Nearly Always In Need Of Explanation, And Not As Much Fun As Advertised In The Promotions For Board Games And Breakfast Cereal.

Since The Eighteenth Century The Immense Expansion Of The Worlds Wealth Has Come About As A Result Of A Correspondingly Immense Expansion Of Credit, Which In Turn Has Demanded Increasingly Stupendous Suspensions Of Disbelief.