Bin Laden comes out of a business background - he studied public administration and economics at university, and he worked for his family company, which was obviously a rather successful enterprise.

Often it is important to listen to what people aren't saying.

I am very suspicious of the notion that somehow bin Laden was a media creation... Bin Laden's actions made him into a big deal. Not the media.

There's some pretty good academic research that suggest that what Americans don't like is losing.

At one point people in al Qaeda were actually drawing monthly paychecks when they were based in Sudan.

So Pakistan is a country that I'm very fond of and have spent a lot of time, but it is a country where conspiracy theories have a life of their own.

Bin Laden's death is just a punctuation point on a set of problems they've had for a long time. I think the prognosis for al-Qaida and groups like it is really bad, and that's a good thing.

Most Muslims don't want to live in some Taliban-style utopia, which is what bin Laden and allied groups are offering.

And in the end, bin Laden died in a squalid suburban compound surrounded by his wives and children and far from the front lines of his holy war.

There are two atheisms of which one is a purification of the notion of God.

What we feel is a choice.

Art is like a stock with a decent return for people in finance, and they get to feel like they are involved with culture, spend time with artists, as part of their dividend.

Common sense tells us that we should focus our resources to benefit children, teachers and taxpayers by keeping dollars in the classroom.

I purchased excellent and beautiful horses, visited all such neighbors as I found in congenial spirits, and was as happy as happy could be.

I think that I have a pretty varied taste in music I think. And it is primarily rock music big umbrella that I am, I am not into hip-hop. But, I do like both.

Accessible local libraries are vital to communities and to children.

I just think Radiohead are f-in' miserable bastards.

My father was always talking about God, and I idolized my father, so I'd spend hours trying to have mental telepathy with God.

You make a movie that is about what you want it to be about and let people have their reaction to it.