I consider Khomeini's position dangerous. He does not have the right to pass judgment-that is not the Islamic way.

My countrymen have the right to shake my hand and talk to me if they so wish. Don't forget that their support and their reading of my works is what brought me the Nobel prize.

Excessive concern with religion seems to me a last resort for people who have been exhausted by life.

I defend both the freedom of expression and society's right to counter it. I must pay the price for differing. It is the natural way of things.

I believe society has a right to defend itself, just as the individual has the right to attack that with which he disagrees.

Today's interpretations of religion are often backward and contradict the needs of civilization.

You know what I'm afraid of? That God is sick of us.