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!'

Religion gets its morality from us. We don't get our morality from religion.

All of life is a wager

Evolution is, as well as smarter than we are, infinitely more callous and cruel, and also capricious.

It ought to be an offense to be excruciating and unfunny in circumstances where your audience is almost morally obliged to enthuse.

I don't think consensus-building politics is what I'm meant to be doing.

One of the many problems with the American left has been its image as something rather too solemn, mirthless, herbivorous, dull, monochrome, righteous, and boring.