No one has the right to tell me what to do because he has a divine warrant.

Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal: the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need). Perhaps above all, we affirm life over the cults of death and human sacrifice and are afraid, not of inevitable death, but rather of a human life that is cramped and distorted by the pathetic need to offer mindless adulation, or the dismal belief that the laws of nature respond to wailings and incantations.

Trust is not the same as faith. A friend is someone you trust. Putting faith in anyone is a mistake.

Henry Kissinger should have the door shut in his face by every decent person and should be shamed, ostracized and excluded.

If god really wanted people to be free of [wicked thoughts], he should have taken more care to invent a different species.

I don't think there's any need to have essays advocating selfishness among human beings; I don't know what your impression has been, but some things require no further reinforcement.

I think religion should be treated with ridicule, hatred and contempt, and I claim that right.