Work is of two kinds: first altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relative to other matter second telling other people to do so.

The man who cannot endure to have his errors and shortcomings brought to the surface and made known but tries to hide them is unfit to walk the highway of truth.

I tend not to trust people who live in very tidy houses. I know that on the surface there is nothing wrong with a person being well-ordered and disciplined. Nothing except that it leaves the impression of that person having lived in the confines of a stark institution which although he or she has long since left remains within.

The subject matter of the stories on the surface... there seem to be a number of stories about travel.

Today 80 percent of all the oil that comes out of the Gulf is from 1 000 feet or more and today almost a third of it is more than 5 000 feet below the surface. What hasn't happened is the safety and the ability to respond to a negative event such as this blowout has been far outrun by the technology of drilling itself. We need to close that gap.

On the surface we all act like we all love each other and we're free and easy and actually we're far more moralistic than any other society I've ever lived in.

The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through.

Land: A part of the earth's surface considered as property. The theory that land is property subject to private ownership and control is the foundation of modern society and is eminently worthy of the superstructure.

I finally did work out a very good relationship with my father but it was rough growing up. We had a lot of conflict and I think it surfaced in many of my works.

I also think the relationship I have with my audience is a lot more complex than what Hitchcock seemed to want his to be - although I think he had more going on under the surface as well.