A lot of people, because of my contempt for the false consolations of religion, think of me as a symbolic public opponent of that in extremis. And sometimes that makes me feel a bit alarmed, to be the repository of other people's hope.

Anyone who can look me in the eye and say they prefer the story of Moses or Jesus or Mohammed to the life of Socrates is intellectually defective.

it is interesting to find that people of faith now seek defensively to say that they are no worse than fascists or Nazis or Stalinists

If someone tells me that I've hurt their feelings I'm still waiting to hear what your point is.

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

When I meet people who say - which they do all of the time - 'I must just tell you, my great aunt had cancer of the elbow and the doctors gave her 10 seconds to live, but last I heard she was climbing Mount Everest,' and so forth, I switch off quite early.

The people who tend to raise antiwar slogans will do so generally when it's American or British interests involved.