Islam, at the moment, is the motherlode of bad ideas.

The problem with religion, because it's been sheltered from criticism, is that it allows people to believe en masse what only idiots or lunatics could believe in isolation.

Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn't care to, or he doesn't exist. God is either impotent, evil, or imaginary. Take your pick, and choose wisely.

A puppet is free as long as he loves his strings.

We have a choice. We have two options as human beings. We have a choice between conversation and war. That's it. Conversation and violence. And faith is a conversation stopper.

How we pay attention to the present moment...determin es the character of our experience and...the quality of our lives.

You can do what you decide to do — but you cannot decide what you will decide to do.

How can we be “free” as conscious agents if everything that we consciously intend is caused by events in our brain that we do not intend and of which we are entirely unaware? We can’t.

You don't get anything worth getting, by pretending to know things you don't know.

Jesus Christ—who, as it turns out, was born of a virgin, cheated death, and rose bodily into the heavens—can now be eaten in the form of a cracker

The position of the Muslim community in the face of all provocations seems to be: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we will kill you.

It is not my words that I polish, but my ideas. 102

Storytelling is not something we do. Storytelling is who we are.

Los Angeles is not a town full of airheads. There's a great deal of wonderful energy there.

It would be pleasant to be drunk.

The promise of Social Security was reflected in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's inter-generational compact that rewards hard work and provides retirement security.

I think I've learned more from women than anyone else, and perhaps from love. What a wonderful testing ground.

The reactionaries are in possession of force, in not only the army and police, but in the press and the schools

It's no good being exclusive if nobody wants in.

Somehow Jesus's reputation has survived all the embarrassing things that Christians have done in his name.

If I was going to fall, I would hang on to my small comforts, at least, for as long as I possibly could.