We really only came around to accepting and integrating the propositional dimension of identity into a concept of ourselves at the time of the American Revolution.

Expectations should not always be taken as reality; because you never know when you will be disappointed.

But then I came to the conclusion that no, while there may be an immigration problem, it isn't really a serious problem. The really serious problem is assimilation.

Partial truths or half-truths are often more insidious than total falsehoods.

Power remains strong when it remains in the dark; exposed to the sunlight it begins to evaporate.

Many more people in the world are concerned about sports than human rights.

Some Westerners […] have argued that the West does not have problems with Islam but only with violent Islamist extremists. Fourteen hundred years of history demonstrate otherwise.

It will take a long time, and certainly the West will remain the dominant civilization well into the next century, but the decline is occurring.

The relations between countries in the coming decade are most likely to reflect their cultural commitments, their cultural ties and antagonism with other countries.

Global politics remains extremely complex and countries have different interests, which will also lead them to make what might seem as rather bizarre friends and allies.

Nationalism is a central ideology for people who are trying to establish their own states in which they can play a dominant role.

Just the inexplicable wants to be understood within the nonsense of emptiness that belongs to this world of illusion.

Science, like art, religion, commerce, warfare, and even sleep, is based on presuppositions.

Never find fault with the absent.

No, I like you alive and warm and wiggling.

A distant enemy is always preferable to one at the gate.

I'm not afraid to go out on a limb, style-wise or with lyrics. I don't ever want to be afraid to cut those types of songs because radio might not play it.

Keep thinking. You can hear our brains rattling around inside us, like the littler Russian dolls.

I smoke because I like to get high.

There are a lot of artists that return to the same subject. Whether it's the natural subject, or the focus or the subconscious focus of their entire lives, it often is repeated.

That is one more reason why I write in English only right now. I prefer writing in the language I hear around me for the people by whom I am surrounded.