Many men start being friendly with women because they are trying to seduce them. I'm not trying to seduce them. I just like hanging out with them.

If I were dead, then nobody in England would have to fuss about the cost of my security and whether or not I merited such special treatment for so long.

Every time you finish a book, you have a terrible feeling that there's just never going to be another one. But fortunately, so far, the next one has always shown up.

It seems that the right of freedom of speech that was enshrined in numerous constitutions is now under attack by religious institutions.

Fundamentalism isn't about religion, it's about power.

Look at history. It's not the account of a species at peace.

The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas - uncertainty, progress, change - into crimes.