Shepherds don't look after sheep because they love them - although I do think some shepherds like their sheep too much. They look after their sheep so they can, first, fleece them and second, turn them into meat. That's much more like the priesthood as I know it.

What better way for a ruling class to claim and hold power than to pose as the defenders of the nation.

In some ways I feel sorry for racists and for religious fanatics, because they so much miss the point of being human, and deserve a sort of pity. But then I harden my heart, and decide to hate them all the more, because of the misery they inflict and because of the contemptible excuses they advance for doing so.

What is it you most dislike? Stupidity, especially in its nastiest forms of racism and superstition.

Those of us who are most genuinely repelled by war and violence are also those who are most likely to decide that some things, after all, are worth fighting for.

I have decided to take whatever my disease can throw at me.

There are all kinds of stupid people that annoy me but what annoys me most is a lazy argument.