Human beings do not perceive things whole; we are not gods but wounded creatures, cracked lenses, capably only of fractured perceptions. Partial beings, in all the senses of that phrase.

Islam is unusual in that it's the only one of the great world religions which was born inside recorded history. That there's an enormous amount of factual historical record about the life of a prophet and about social conditions in Arabia at that time. So it's possible to look at the origin of Islam in a scholarly way.

Language upon a silvered tongue affords enchantment enough.

We have come to think of taking offence as a fundamental right. We value very little more highly than our rage, which gives us, in our opinion, the moral high ground. From there we can shoot down at our enemies and inflict heavy fatalities.

Sometimes legends make reality, and become more useful than the facts.

Too many people spouting too many words, and in the end those words will turn to bullets and stones.

Language is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so to make it true.