In 1844, Karl Marx said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." He said this at a time when opium and opium derivatives were the only painkillers. And he said it helped a little. He might as well have said, "Religion is the aspirin of the people."

I beg you to believe the most ridiculous superstition of all: that humanity is at the center of the universe, the fulfiller or frustrateor of the grandest dreams of God Almighty.

When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away.

Out in the world I go! Muggers! Autograph hounds! Junkies! People with real jobs! Maybe an easy lay! United Nation functionaries and diplomats!

What good is a planet called Earth, after all, if you own no land?

Only in books do we learn what’s really going on.

Or they'll talk about fear, which we used to call politics- job politics, social politics, government politics.