To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation - is that good for the world?

Avoid stock expressions (like the plague, as William Safire used to say) and repetitions. Don't say that as a boy your grandmother used to read to you, unless at that stage of her life she really was a boy, in which case you have probably thrown away a better intro. If something is worth hearing or listening to, it's very probably worth reading. So, this above all: Find your own voice.

[I]f you think that American imperialism and its globalised, capitalist form is the most dangerous thing in the world, that means you don't think the Islamic Republic of Iran or North Korea or the Taliban is as bad.

To reflect upon the event horizon is a great deal more awe-inspiring than a burning bush or a wooden statue that weeps or pees or bleeds.

I'd like to prove to other people that it's not the end of everything to be diagnosed with cancer.

I think being an atheist is something you are, not something you do.

A faction willing to take the risks of making war on the ossified status quo in the Middle East can be described as many things, but not as conservative.