Tolerance, openness and understanding towards other peoples' cultures, social structures, values and faiths are now essential to the very survival of an interdependent world.

Pluralism is no longer simply an asset or a prerequisite for progress and development, it is vital to our existence.

The right to hope is the most powerful human motivation I know.

The Islamic ethic is that if God has given you the capacity or good fortune to be a privileged individual in society, you have a moral responsibility to society.

We cannot make the world safe for democracy unless we also make the world safe for diversity.

A secure pluralistic society requires communities that are educated and confident both in the identity and depth of their own traditions and in those of their neighbours.

There is nothing wrong with being well off as long as money has a social and ethical value and is not the object of one's own greed.

There are many interpretations of Islam within the wider Islamic community, but generally we are instructed to leave the world a better place than it was when we came into it.

Canada is today the most successful pluralist society on the face of our globe, without any doubt in my mind... That is something unique to Canada. It is an amazing global human asset.

Islam is probably the one that places the greatest emphasis on knowledge. The purpose is to understand God's creation.

A proper home can provide the bridge across that terrible gulf between poverty and a better future.

If you don't think every day is a great day try going without one.

It wasn't Liza Minnelli. It was the woman I loved.

People think being in your seventies means sitting around in a chair with a blanket over your legs, drooling.

I always warn aspiring reporters to observe three basic rules: 1. Never trust an editor. 2. Never trust an editor. 3. Never trust an editor.

America forms the longest and straightest bone in the earth's skeleton.

I think everyone still thinks I'm 13.

Raising the minimum wage allows business people to stop thinking about workers simply as costs to be cut and allows you to start thinking about workers as customers to be cultivated.

I never look for a photograph. The photograph finds me and says, I'm here! and I say, Yes, I see you. I hear you.

One insult pocketed soon produces another.

I'm very interested in people, so if a character happens to be real, there's that much more to look at.