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.

What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

My political life has been informed by the view that if there was any truth to religion there wouldn't really be any need for politics.

The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.

What if I pulled through and the pious faction contentedly claimed that their prayers had been answered? That would somehow be irritating.

Reagan is doing to the country what he can no longer do to his wife.

A melancholy lesson of advancing years is the realisation that you can't make old friends.