And don't tell me the end justifies the means because it doesn't. We never reach the end. All we ever get is means. That's what we live with.

It's not that any sufficiently advanced technology is magic, it's that any technology taking place beyond the threshold of our senses is.

The Brit abroad is always the voice of caution. Persons of other cultures are known to be undisciplined, prone to leaning out of car windows and cooking with garlic.

Piracy is robbery with violence, often segueing into murder, rape and kidnapping. It is one of the most frightening crimes in the world. Using the same term to describe a twelve-year-old swapping music with friends, even thousands of songs, is evidence of a loss of perspective so astounding that it invites and deserves the derision it receives.

Never mind, never mind, let's get to the part where we smite the unrighteous. I've brought my most alarming teeth!

It's usually best not to ask philosophers anything, precisely because they have the habit of what in the Persian language is called sanud: the profitless consideration of unsettling yet inconsequential things.

And don't tell me the end justifies the means because it doesn't. We never reach the end. All we ever get is means. That's what we live with.