I've never known about anyone being helped by being told how wretched, miserable, sinful, and evil they are.

I don't make that decision [what next book will be] until I've read enough to know that I've got something different to say and I know how to say it.

We began to temper Western democracy with what I'd call a social contract. We put in Social Security, graduated income tax, workers' compensation. We developed strong unions to negotiate with business owners so workers got an equitable share of the profits.

The audience that I try to reach are members of what I call the church alumni association. Now they are people who have not found in institutional religion a God big enough to be God for their world.

I grew up in North Carolina being told that the Bible approves slavery and segregation, that it was the will of God.

What kind of god is it that some human brain can shatter the illusions that have been built up around such a deity? God's a mystery. I'll never be able to tell you what God is.

What the mind cannot accept, the heart can finally never adore.