Doctrines like Christianity or Islam or Marxism require unanimity of belief. One dissenter casts doubt on the creed of millions.

In the world of words, one of my best-loved tribes is the diatribe.

I now find the most marvelous things in the everyday, the ordinary, the common, the simple and tangible.

The best argument for Christianity is the Gregorian chant. Listening to that music, one can believe anything -- while the music lasts.

It is an author's most solemn obligation to honor truth. If the free and independent writer does not speak truth to power, who will?

The purpose of love, sex, and marriage is the production and raising of children. But look about you: Most people have no business having children. They are unqualified, either genetically or culturally or both, to reproduce such sorry specimens as themselves. Of all our privileges, the license to breed is the one most grossly abused.

A woman, as much as a man, is responsible by the age of forty for the character of her face. But women, obeying the biological imperative, strive harder to preserve a youthful appearance (the reproductive look) and lose it sooner.