"We love to boast that we are a nation of immigrants — and we are. But there's a different sense of America among thos…"

"Reality, after all, is what civilization attempts to mitigate."

"For all practical purposes, wheat is civilization. It produces what we euphemistically call the staff of life, a staf…"

"The Arkansawyers are of the type of the old Hoosiers, Crackers, Pikers, and the Big Smoky mountaineers. The Hoosiers …"

"Realistic observers of their northern province, the Spaniards always spoke of "The Californias"—Baja California and A…"

"What is a bore? Maxwell definition: a vacuum cleaner of society, sucking up everything and giving nothing. How do you…"

"Bores put you in a mental cemetery while you are still walking."

"Under pressure, people admit to murder, setting fire to the village church, or robbing a bank, but never to being bores."

"Oddly enough, modern gardens have become more and more scentless. Bigger, hardier, more beed flowers are the goal of …"

"You just can't put roses in the ground and hope they'll thrive ... If you want a lot of show and color but no work, t…"