Religion, it is true, still possesses the huge if cumbersome and unwieldy advantage of having come first.

Forget it. Never explain; never apologize. You can either write posthumously or you can't.

You have to choose your future regrets.

The concept of loneliness and exile and self-sufficiency continually bucks me up.

Human beings are pattern-seeking animals who will prefer even a bad theory or a conspiracy theory to no theory at all.

The faithful believe that certain truths have been 'revealed.' The skeptics and secularists believe that truth is only to be sought by free inquiry and trial and error. Only one of those positions is dogmatic.

I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.