“Every day, we think that the crisis here cannot get worse and every day it does."

"They were our neighbours and now they are our killers."

"It brings us no joy to move forward in this direction."

"I am not 'offended and disappointed' by cussing and vitriol... The real problem was his rabid, elemental misogyny."

"Girls wear construction hats, abseil down tall buildings, and get covered in paint."

"The fact that someone elsewhere is more afraid does not reduce your own fear."

"Our 15 mins of fame is over now."

"OLS is an intriguing response to two related problems: the feasibility of legal guidance for everyone but the rich, and the current glut of lawyers."

"I know some people like that—who want everyone to know the correct terms—and now I'm kind of afraid to talk to them."

"Welcome to sexual modernity — a world in which the dense web of moral judgments and expectations that used to surround and hem in our sex lives has been almost completely dissolved, replaced by a single moral judgment or consideration: individual consent."

"The natural affinity of the high and low, and their mutual suspicion of the middle, has been a remarkably durable idea."

"To get out of poverty, you have to resist the short-term pleasures that frequently bind the family and community together."

"Consider it a fine for having friends without a sophisticated understanding of modern antiques."

"'It's OK,' she says. 'The zombies are already dead.'"

"In order to collect benefit checks, welfare recipients will have to wring out their sweat into official government vials before mailing them in for analysis."

Steve Thorngate

The Century managing editor is also a church musician and songwriter.

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