You never know the answers to the questions of life until you are asked.

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.

One of the problems with defending free speech is you often have to defend people that you find to be outrageous and unpleasant and disgusting.

Believe in your own eyes and you'll get into a lot of trouble, hot water, a mess.

optimism is a disease

If by some bizarre chance there turns out to be a god [...], I'm willing to bet he's an atheist too.

Out-of-step intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and the deceased Edward Said have often been dismissed as crazy extremists, 'anti-American,' and in Mr. Said's case even, absurdly, as apologists for Palestinian 'terrorism.'