We have no proof that Socrates ever existed. We only know from witnesses to his life that he did. Like Jesus, he never wrote anything down. It doesn't matter to me whether he did or not exist because we have his teachings, his method of thinking, and his extreme intellectual and moral courage.

To remember friendship is to recall those conversations that it seemed a sin to break off

Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.

The discovery there is no god is a great relief, because if there were, it would be like living in a celestial North Korea if there was one. You would never be able to escape.

Today I want to puke when I hear the word 'radical' applied so slothfully and stupidly to Islamist murderers; the most plainly reactionary people in the world.

Thanks to the telescope and the microscope, religion no longer offers an explanation for anything important.

My children, to the extent that they have found religion, have found it from me, in that I insist on at least a modicum of religious education for them.