I think what's important and extraordinarily practical about Buddhism, is that it offers very concrete methods for people to work with.

Gandhi saw how people have to re-think their own individuality before engaging in political activity. Otherwise they're just playing the game that the adversary has set out.

In America, you don't even have proper holidays. It's really one of the most prosperous slave societies in history. People work their asses off all year long and get two weeks off! It's incredible.

The people who encouraged me weren't necessarily writers or readers themselves. They were people who were just pleased to see me devote my life to reading and writing.

I found it really disturbing to see a novelist writing a diatribe about Islam and Muslim radical extremists, blurring the distinction between the two.

The idea that human beings can make history, that is something quite unique to the modern West.

We need to infuse politics with ideas like compassion and empathy, and a sense that we live in an interdependent world.

The asymmetries of power that have shaped relations between the West and the rest of the world also exist in the realm of literary criticism.

Most suffering is human-made and avoidable. It's mostly in your head.

Freedom of speech doesn't guarantee great literature.

In the modern world, nationalism remains a very important force. We delude ourselves into thinking that globalization has made all of that redundant and that everyone just wants to be like America.

You are an unusual, brilliant child who has not seen enough of life to grasp the full measure of human stupidity.

They never sought in vain that sought the Lord aright!

Nothing worse could happen to one than to be completely understood.

Trends don't mean anything to me. If I like something, I'll do it. If I don't, I won't do it, and I wouldn't care if everybody in the country mocked me.

Never bend over for a Christian.

You might be a redneck if you think people that send out graduation announcements are show-offs.

I pulled the trigger twice, cutting off his protests, and Finn joined my lover on the floor.

The greatest gift you can give your children is to believe in them.

I spend my jollity on stage, so there is less in my own life.

He [Cassius Clay] became a Black Muslim, which is a pseudo-religion for unbright neurotics who feel the need to hate all white people.