Diplomatic eminences often natter on about preventive action, making the obvious point that it's better to cure festering ills before they metastasize into something much worse.

Having emigrated to the United States as a small boy from the Soviet Union, I am instinctively suspicious of socialism and inveterately opposed to communism.

Political paralysis and partisanship are sabotaging American power.

Protests are the very essence of America! It is a country founded in protest.

Everyone from Silesians to Sicilians to Scots seems to want autonomy or independence. The British voted to leave the European Union, and hostility to the superstate is rising across the continent.

Freedom will not prevail because of historical forces; it will only win, if it does, because of historical actors. In other words, us. Those like me who came of age around 1989 used to take democracy for granted.

Only 36 percent of Americans could pass a multiple-choice civics test of the kind that is administered to immigrants seeking to become citizens.

There is little doubt that our society is changing rapidly, but one thing will never change as long as we remain a democracy: the need for voters to know the essentials of our history and government.

History education in schools is so poor that students often enter college ignorant of the past - and leave just as unenlightened.

You simply can't understand the present if you don't understand the past. There is no more alarming case study of the consequences of historical ignorance than President Trump.

There has been an unspoken assumption among establishment Republicans that all they have to do is wait out Hurricane Trump and then return to 'normal' conservatism.

What would I do now, at age 48, if I were deported to a country that I have not seen in more than 40 years and whose language I no longer speak? How would I work? How would I survive?

My mother and I were alike in one crucial respect: We may have been Russian by birth, but we were English in spirit. She was intensely reserved and private, and seldom showed what she was feeling.

Soliciting anything of value from a foreign national to help a U.S. campaign is not just illegal; it is the Founding Fathers' nightmare.

Analogies, in particular, can illuminate, but they can also obscure and confuse. They need to be handled carefully, like rhetorical high explosives.

Trump doesn't need his own agenda if he can terrify independent voters in swing states about what would happen if the Democratic agenda is implemented.

I yearn for intellectual sustenance on vacation but want, of course, to avoid tedium or boredom. I want to read something that will entertain me but also help me appreciate what I am seeing.

The Immigration Act of 1924 closed our doors to virtually all non-European immigrants - a great wrong that was not rectified for decades.

Numbers don't lie. Women lie, men lie, but numbers don't lie.

Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.

If you want to be the best, you've got the beat the best, and the best is 'Blessed,' baby.

Life changes on a dime, so live life to the fullest.

When I speak, I speak facts, and if you're getting mad, it's because you know it's the truth.

I'm a fighter. I go in the ring and do one thing.

Don't be scared to look for help. Depression is real... It's crazy, and all these guys, us athletes, that keep thinking we're superheroes. I like to think I'm a superhero, but superheroes got to fight their demons, too, sometimes.

I want to have my 11 or 12, 13, 14 belt picture. I want to be lying down just covered in them. I want a lot of them. I want my closets to be filled with UFC belts.

I always eat before I go into a training session.

I want the undisputed career. I want the best damn career. I want to be the best guy ever to do this.

I'm working hard. I'm putting in the hard work. I'm sacrificing. I ain't asking for no handouts. I'm going to earn everything I'm given.

MMA is forever evolving.

I'm not a talker. I'm a doer.

My coaches deserve a lot of respect.

Everyone knows who the money fight is, and everyone is begging for it. But at the end of the day, Conor's going to fight who he wants to fight.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: If I didn't fight you, get ready. Get ready, because I'm coming.

No success, no nothing, no belt, no person can change the way I act, the way I feel.

They should just put 'two' beside everybody's name, you know? Because there's only No. 1 guy out there, and that's the champion.

If you're not confident in this sport, you're not going to get very, very far.

You test yourself. That's what real fighters do.

I believe in my training camp. I believe in my coaches. I believe in what I do. I believe in the work I put in.

I don't cry about anything.

I'm not trying to be this guy just chugging along. I want to lead the pack.

I'm not racing through my division - I'm cleaning it out.

It's a legacy thing, and when it's all said and done, I want to leave a legacy in whatever way. If not, if it's helping the division, if it's fighting big names, I just want to be remembered as one of the greatest all-time to ever do this in the sport. That's just what I want to do.

The UFC has a mind of its own. Whatever they want to do, I'm down for.

It took me 10 fights to get the damn interim title shot and then 11 to get an undisputed shot.

Pulling out of a fight is just like not taking a fight.

All I have to do is keeping on focusing on what Max Holloway does, and that's winning - and winning fashionably.

The belt is great. You know what comes with the belt? Bigger paydays, pay-per-views, and a lot of stuff.

I'm just asking for a fair shake. You see a lot of these guys, a lot of these other champions making what they're making. I'm not trying to take anything away from them, but I feel like I'm one of the more exciting fighters under contract in the UFC.

Depression is real, and that really hit me hard. I was going through a phase where I wasn't talking to no one. Only my son. Me and my son would do stuff, but I was talking to no one.