In an odd way, we have really destroyed two of our strongest allies against the Islamists. Saddam Hussein, and we've probably fatally undermined Bashir al Assad in Syria.

Sister Virginia used to say, 'You'll be known by the company you keep.'

It's not a choice between war and peace. It's a choice between war and endless war. It's not appeasement. I think it's better even to call it American self-interest.

A nuclear weapon of some dimension, whether it's actually a nuclear weapon, or a dirty bomb, or some kind of radiological device. Yes, I think it's probably a near thing.

We haven't done anything. That has devolved into a partisan bickering of the kind that says Nero was fiddling while Rome burned.

You just have to come to grips with the fact that people don't like to be invaded or bombed by anybody. And America has been engaged in that.

The war in Iraq - if Osama was a Christian - it's the Christmas present he never would have expected.

Most dramatically, and perhaps least noticed, is the violence inside Saudi Arabia itself.

I don't believe in inevitability. But I think it's pretty close to being inevitable...Yes, I think it's probably a near thing.

If the Americans attack Iran for the first time in 1,400 years, we may unite Sunnis and Shias against us. So I guess there is room for accomplishment everywhere.

One of the problems of not allowing the American people to read what bin Laden has said is that in October 2001 just after the war began in Afghanistan, he gave a speech that had two parts to it.

Literature is strewn with the wreckage of those who have minded beyond reason the opinion of others.

It's amazing. The moment you show cash, everyone knows your language.

So I do fear death in the sense that I find the prospect of dying pretty scary. But I no longer fear that I will one day be annihilated and cease to exist.

Adversity is test of faith.

Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom.

Nature, like a true poet, abhors abrupt transitions.

My father belonged to a commune, and the food was ghastly. My idea of food hell is the salad cream they'd pour all over bits of lettuce, cucumber and tomato. It was just disgusting.

My feeling on therapy is it's a luxury, and if you're fortunate enough to get some smart people to talk to about life, then that's fortunate and you should go for it.

Nature isn't classical, dammit, and if you want to make a simulation of nature, you'd better make it quantum mechanical, and by golly it's a wonderful problem, because it doesn't look so easy.

My parents raised me to not ever look at race or color, so it doesn't have a big part in my self-identity.