Tom Wolfe

"The chief rule of the Southern gentleman is never to do anything that might disturb or offend anyone."

"A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here is ever so alive."

"The modern office has become a real pit of darkness."

"Status anxiety is the hallmark of modern life."

"You cannot mock the sacred in America."

"Words are the only gems that will last till the end of the world."

"The right stuff is different."

"Radical chic is the latest fashion in matters of social and political conduct."

"The greatest religious outburst in the history of the United States."

"Art does not advance. It changes."

"The American businessman was not a conservative: he was a radical."

"I was a man of the world, but this was a world I did not understand."

"The American custom of tipping was invented by the devil."

"Honesty is a form of rebellion."

"The power of honest work and talent."

"Youth is full of promise and full of illusions."

"Every person has a frontier within themselves."

"The modern American is a consumer; he is not a builder."

"Status is the fount of all power."

"The real power lies in understanding human nature."

"History is too important to be left to historians."

"The tyranny of modern convenience."

"A proper gentleman keeps his doubts to himself."

"The American Dream is not about money; it's about dignity."

"Fear is the mother of all invention in American life."

"Money is not about happiness; it's about status."

"The beauty of prose is its precision."

"Patience is a virtue that the modern world has forgotten."

"True friendship is rare in competitive society."

"The strength of a nation lies in its letters."