The problem that religious moderation poses for all of us is that it does not permit anything very critical to be said about religious literalism.

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.

Only a person who is motivated in the inner depths of his being will help without hesitation and with no obligation for the one helped.

Renown is a source of toil and sorrow obscurity is a source of happiness.

Art begins with resistance - at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor.

When friends are in trouble, America Helps.

We cannot handle injustice by finding more ways to impose what is in fact "right" on people. It has to come from the inside. And that's where the church should be working.

Here ends another day, during which I have had eyes, ears, hands and the great world around me. Tomorrow begins another day. Why am I allowed two?

Expedients are for the hour, but principles are for the ages.

Being on a movie set is wonderful experience, but it's a bubble - it isn't real life.

There must be a corps that will battle for righteousness, for there are endless battalions who serve unrighteousness.

The heart of our problem is the selfishness in our heart. The human spirit soars with hope when lifted by an encouraging word. The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.