I say that virtue is really all about enjoying yourself, living fully; but of course it is far from obvious what living fully actually means.

Theology, however implausible many of its truth claims, is one of the most ambitious theoretical arenas left in an increasingly specialized world

It is silly to call fat people "gravitationally challenged", a self-righteous fetishism of language which is no more than a symptom of political frustration.

Like all the best radical positions, then, mine is a thoroughly traditionalist one.

Scratch a schoolboy and you find a savage.

Works of art cannot save us. They can simply render us more sensitive to what needs to be repaired.

I liked early Amis a lot, but I stopped reading him some time ago. I admire Hitchens on literary topics - I think he is very astute. McEwan, I read a bit. But I suppose it's more the ideological phenomenon that they represent together that interests me.