The struggle for a free intelligence has always been a struggle between the ironic and the literal mind.

Cancer victimhood contains a permanent temptation to be self-centred and even solipsistic.

Well look, I mean, I think that prayer and holy water, and things like that are all fine. They don't do any good, but they don't necessarily do any harm. It's touching to be thought of in that way. It makes up for those who tell me that I've got my just desserts.

The faithful believe that certain truths have been 'revealed.' The skeptics and secularists believe that truth is only to be sought by free inquiry and trial and error. Only one of those positions is dogmatic.

I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.

The suicide-bombing community is not absolutely 100 percent religious, but it is pretty nearly 100 percent religious.

The trade-off between freedom and security, so often proposed so seductively, very often leads to the loss of both.