The Koran was revealed at a time of great change in the Arab world, the seventh-century shift from a matriarchal nomadic culture to an urban patriarchal system.

The world, somebody wrote, is the place we prove real by dying in it.

To see things plainly, you have to cross a frontier.

When you know what you're against you have taken the first step to discovering what you're for.

My friend Lou Reed came to the end of his song. So very sad.But hey, Lou, you'll always take a walk on the wild side. Always a perfect day.

We all owe death a life.

There is a point beyond which conciliation looks like capitulation. I do not believe I passed that point, but others have thought otherwise.