For centuries, the Muslims were able to co-exist perfectly well with Jews and Christians in the Middle East.

There is nothing in Islam that is more violent than Christianity.

We should probably all pause to confront our past from time to time, because it changes its meaning as our circumstances alter.

I have a very sharp tongue, I'm very impatient, and it's a lifelong struggle.

Look into your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain and then refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else.

The more aggressive our ideologies become, the more aggressive our discourse whether it's in the United States, from Washington D.C., or whether it's from Tehran, or from some underground Al-Qaeda cell. The more aggressive that discourse is, the more people of moderate persuasion have to organize and speak a voice of compassion. That means to feel with the other.

Compassion doesn't, of course, mean feeling sorry for people, or pity, which is how the word has become emasculated in a way.