I learned that to be amusing was not to be frivolous and that language - always the language - was the magic key as much to prose as to poetry.

Those of us who are most genuinely repelled by war and violence are also those who are most likely to decide that some things, after all, are worth fighting for.

[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.

Terrorism works better as a tactic for dictatorships, or for would-be dictators, than for revolutionaries .

A sort of moral blackmail is exerted from both poles. The underclass, one gathers, should be dulled with charity and welfare provision lest it turn nasty. The upper class must likewise be conciliated by vast handouts, lest it lose the "incentive" to go on generating wealth.

A good liar must have a good memory. Kissinger is a stupendous liar with a remarkable memory.

I have no time to waste on this planet being told what to do by those who think that God has given them instructions.