SUZANNE FIELDS

It's not very hip to consider the plight of single women who yearn for something so old-fashioned as men.

Churchill knew the importance of peace, and he also knew the price of it. Churchill finally got his voice, of course. He stressed strategy, but it was his voice that armed England at last with the old-fashioned moral concepts of honor and duty, justice and mercy.

Dostoevski does not tell you what to think about his legend, but he requires that you think about it. The novelist was a deeply religious man and he always thought many readers missed that point about him.

The old studios that mass-produced dreams are gone with the wind, just like the old downtown theaters that were the temples of the dreams.

The Academy Awards ceremony is designed to be without irony, but Chris Rock supplied it anyway with filmed movie-theater interviews with black men and women who had never heard of the movies nominated for Best Picture.

Great teachers transcend ideology.

Fast sex, like fast food, is cheap, but it doesn't nourish the body - or the soul.

That's what Major League Baseball's steroid scandal was all about, the hidden harm in competitive sports that sends the wrong message to the young.

Women can break down barriers to opportunity, and men, many of them reluctantly, have learned to relate to women as their equals in thought and action. But except for an eccentric few, women do not want to become warriors.

We all want to look younger, become stronger and healthier and live longer.

German businessmen are overwhelmed by the high cost of doing business. Inflexible rules, enforced by a burgeoning bureaucracy, discourage entrepreneurship.

HBO has 28 million subscribers, small stuff compared to TBS, which can be seen in 88 million homes.

Many of the Europeans who want Israel to go away don't even know why they do. Nearly a third of those interviewed concede they have no idea what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is all about. It's enough to know that Israelis are Jews.

There is a bright spot or two for the Spaniards. French toast has become freedom toast on the Air Force One breakfast menu, but the Spanish omelet is still a Spanish omelet.

It's long been a cliche in Washington that if you hang a lamb chop in your window, guests will come.

Sometimes the ignorant are among the most educated.

It's easier to make fun of a first lady than for a first lady to have fun. The scrutiny is ferocious.

American high school students trail teenagers from 14 European and Asian countries in reading, math and science. We're even trailing France.

You still can't find Israel on a map of the Middle East in a Palestinian schoolbook.

Many critics of the Palestinians, especially those in Congress, think the current calm is merely the eye of the storm. That's why the House of Representatives approved a foreign aid package last week that forbade the direct financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority .

There's more than a few remnants left in German welfare policy today. Many Germans eagerly condemn Hitler's fascism but won't examine the other reasons why the Third Reich succeeded for a season.

Everybody's looking for the niche to make the difference. Some people think they see the mother lode in the beautiful people, especially the vote of the beautiful women.

There are enough Poles in Chicago to make up one of the largest cities in Poland.

Stupidity fuses notoriety and celebrity.

We've become more tolerant because we're tired of the debate.