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.

Unlike other countries, it was founded on written proclamations. America is an ideal as well as a republic. Its documents are open to revisions. They're works in progress. There's an invitation to participate.

Terrorism is the tactic of demanding the impossible, and demanding it at gunpoint.

In order to terminate a pregnancy, you have to still a heartbeat, switch off a developing brain.

"Objective" means that, in a confrontation with the evidence, you would be willing to change your own mind.

The fragility of love is what is most at stake here—humanity's most crucial three-word avowal is often uttered only to find itself suddenly embarrassing or orphaned or isolated or ill-timed—but strangely enough it can work better as a literal or reassuring statement than a transcendent or numinous or ecstatic one.

You have to choose your future regrets.