My favorite time in the cycles of public life is the time when the Pope is dead and they haven't elected a new one. There's no one in the world who is infallible for those weeks. And you know, I don't miss it.

The noble title of "dissident" must be earned rather than claimed; it connotes sacrifice and risk rather than mere disagreement.

The great thing about the United States and the historically magnetic effect it has had on a lot of people like me is its generosity, to put it simply.

As I've said before, you can be an atheist and anything you like.

Why do humans exist? A major part of the answer: because Pikaia Gracilens survived the Burgess decimation.

Hardest of all, as one becomes older, is to accept that sapient remarks can be drawn from the most unwelcome or seemingly improbable sources, and that the apparently more trustworthy sources can lead one astray.

Everything everyone thinks they know about [Mother Teresa] is false. It must be the single most successful emotional con job of the twentieth century.