Ironically, the first thing that appealed to me about Islam was its pluralism. The fact that the Koran praises all the great prophets of the past.

Compassion is the key in Islam and Buddhism and Judaism and Christianity. They are profoundly similar.

We constantly have ideas and experiences that go beyond what we can say or know. Most often these are expressed in art, in painting, in music. Music, everyday confronts us with a form of knowing that doesn't depend on words.

I like silence; I'm a gregarious loner and without the solitude, I lose my gregariousness.

Jesus did not spend a great deal of time discoursing about the trinity or original sin or the incarnation, which have preoccupied later Christians. He went around doing good and being compassionate.

My greatest solace is my study. If I am deprived of my study, I can become lost, unhappy and unhinged.

Alas, all traditions lose their primal purity and we all fail our founders.