To mark a separation between holy and profane, I take a ritual bath after any contact, or correspondence (even emails) , with consultants, economists, Harvard Business School professors, journalists, and those in similarly depraved pursuits; I then feel and act purified from the profane until the next episode.

The book is the only medium left that hasn't been corrupted by the profane: everything else on your eyelids manipulates you with an ad.

You can replace lies with truth; but myth is only displaced with a narrative.

The sacred is all about unconditionals; the profane is all about conditionals.

The source of the tragic in history is in mistaking someone else's unconditional for conditional——and the reverse.

Restaurants get you in with food to sell you liquor; religions get you in with belief to sell you rules (e.g., avoid debt). People can understand the notion of God, not unexplained rules, interdicts, and categorical heuristics.

One categorical: it is easier to fast than diet. You cannot be "slightly" kosher or halal by only eating a small portion of ham.

To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week's newspapers.