The photographs of one dead terrorist mastermind carry no real news or information about the nature or horror of war. They just create sensation instead of deeper understanding.

Denouncing evil is a far cry from doing good.

What distinguishes genocide from murder, and even from acts of political murder that claim as many victims, is the intent. The crime is wanting to make a people extinct. The idea is the crime.

Genocide, after all, is an exercise in community building.

Political corruption is to Rhode Islanders as smog is to people who live in Los Angeles: nobody complains of its absence, but when it rolls around everyone feels right at home.

This is what fascinates me most in existence: the peculiar necessity of imagining what is, in fact, real.

I couldn't help thinking how well Cain had prospered after killing his brother: he founded the first city--and, although we don't like to talk about it all that much, we are all his children.

Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now.

Man knows much more than he understands.

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon a little child; Pity my simplicity, Suffer me to come to thee.

Children listen, I'm trying to tell you something good, don't get caught up in the hood.

This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down.

I played the drums, and I was in a band called Funkasaurus Rex in Toronto. When I left for school, it became hard to play as frequently.

Videos have to go hand in hand with your music, so that's why, ultimately, they should be created by the artist. And if they're not, it doesn't really add up to me.

Passion requires focused direction, and that direction must come from three other areas: your purpose, your talents, and your needs.

We only rise above mediocrity when there's something at stake. p. 174

I eat whatever I want. I can get away with it. There are some strict regiment eatings, but I don't follow them.