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.

I think the socialist movement, by removing many, many people from grinding stagnation and poverty and overwork, does enable people not just to lead better lives but to be better people.

If waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.

Religion attacks us in our deepest integrity by saying we wouldn't be able to make a moral decision without it.

I leave it to the faithful to burn each other's churches and mosques and synagogues, which they can be always relied upon to do

It's normally agreed that the question 'How are you?' doesn't put you on your oath to give a full or honest answer.

[Concerning monotheistic religions] The only thing these hysterical cults have in common is the belief that this world will be consumed, and deservedly so, when the moment is ripe. They also, all of them, profess a great disdain for earthly possessions. Yet they pass the intervening time in haggling over the most trivial and paltry property rights, over caves and rocks and disputable pieces of archeological rubbish.