One of the strange things about violent and authoritarian regimes is they don't like the glare of negative publicity.

There are things you break that can't be put back together again. And Kashmir may be one of them.

Rock and roll music - the music of freedom frightens people and unleashes all manner of conservative defense mechanisms.

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.

One of the extraordinary things about human events is that the unthinkable becomes thinkable.

Language is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so to make it true.

‘Respect for religion’ has become a code phrase meaning ‘fear of religion.’ Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect.

In the cookie of life, friends are the chocolate chips.

Language upon a silvered tongue affords enchantment enough.

The whole story of migration and what that has done in interconnecting the planet is obviously something I've written about a lot.

faith without doubt is addiction

Compassion is the magic ingredient to an amazing life.

It is not so much the being exempt from faults, as having overcome them, that is an advantage to us.

Girls think that being glamorous means making mistakes and being irresponsible. And that's just not true.

A viable new feminism must directly confront the realm of practice.

It sure is hell to be president.

I don't even own a cell phone.

At 'The Village Voice,' there were all these fevers inside the offices, that would break out into full-scale rumbles between writers.

Thanks to President Bush and Republican principles, businesses now have more confidence to hire workers.

In a sea of stories, find the right one to tell, and the right way to tell it.

One night I was preaching on hell and laughter just hit the whole place. The more I told people what hell was like the more they laughed.