I could not do what I do, and teach a class, and never miss a deadline, never be late for anything if I was a lush, OK? I would really love to read a piece that said, 'He is not a lush.' That would be fabulous, it would be a first, I could show it to people and say, 'Look!'

I am absolutely convinced that religion is the main source of hatred in this world.

It's surprising to me how many of my friends send Christmas cards, or holiday cards, including my atheist and secular friends.

As the cleansing ocean closes over bin Laden's carcass, may the earth lie lightly on the countless graves of those he sentenced without compunction to be burned alive or dismembered in the street.

Millions of people die every day. Everyone's got to go sometime. I've came by this particular tumor honestly. If you smoke, which I did for many years very heavily with occasional interruption, and if you use alcohol, you make yourself a candidate for it in your sixties.

I joined a small but growing post-Trotskyite Luxembourgist sect.

Teasing is very often a sign of inner misery.