A democratic civilization will save itself only if it makes the language of the image into a stimulus for critical reflection - not an invitation for hypnosis.

A mystic is a hysteric who has met her confessor before her doctor.

I think a book should be judged 10 years later, after reading and re-reading it.

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.

But laughter is weakness, corruption, the foolishness of our flesh.

It is necessary to meditate early, and often, on the art of dying to succeed later in doing it properly just once.

Today I realize that many recent exercises in "deconstructive reading" read as if inspired by my parody. This is parody's mission: it must never be afraid of going too far. If its aim is true, it simply heralds what others will later produce, unblushing, with impassive and assertive gravity.