As citizens of a free society, we have a duty to look critically at our world. But if we think we know what is wrong, we must act upon that knowledge.

If words fall into disrepair, what will substitute? They are all we have

The different American experience of the 20th Century is crucial because the lesson of the century for Europe, which essentially is that the human condition is tragic, led it to have a build a welfare system and a set of laws and social arrangements that are more prophylactic than idealistic. It's not about building perfect futures; it's about preventing terrible pasts. I think that is something that Europeans in the second half of the 20th century knew in their bones and Americans never did, and it's one of the big differences between the two Western cultures.

I don't believe in an afterlife. I don't believe in a single or multiple godhead. I respect people who do, but I don't believe it myself.

I've lost count of the interviews I've done about my illness and its relationship to my ideas and writing.

I'm not sure I've learned anything new about life; but I've had to think harder about death and what comes after for other people.

Love consists in leaving the loved one space to be themselves while providing the security within which that self may flourish.