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

In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.

We are unlikely to cease making gods or inventing ceremonies to please them for as long as we are afraid of death, or of the dark, and for as long as we ­persist in self-­centeredness. That could be a lengthy stretch of time.

Those who are determined to be 'offended' will discover a provocation somewhere. We cannot possibly adjust enough to please the fanatics, and it is degrading to make the attempt.

I've been to Uganda and to North Korea and to Eritrea, countless horror spots around the world.

You have to choose your future regrets.

And the pleasures and rewards of the intellect are inseparable from angst, uncertainty, conflict and even despair.