We are a pluralist civilisation because we allow mosques to be built in our countries, and we are not going to stop simply because Christian missionaries are thrown into prison in Kabul. If we did so, we too would become Taliban.

A sure sign of a lunatic is that sooner or later, he brings up the Templars.

After so many years even the fire of passion dies, and with it what was believed the light of the truth. Who of us is able to say now whether Hector or Achilles was right, Agamemnon or Priam, when they fought over the beauty of a woman who is now dust and ashes?

The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity.

New Orleans is not in the grip of a neurosis of a denied past; it passes out memories generously like a great lord; it doesn't have to pursue "the real thing."

Our most noted satirists are true columnists and their opinions can be worth more than any well-documented exposé.

There are four types: the cretin, the imbecile, the stupid and the mad. Normality is a balanced mixture of all four.