A faction willing to take the risks of making war on the ossified status quo in the Middle East can be described as many things, but not as conservative.

If religious instruction were not allowed until the child had attained the age of reason, we would be living in a quite different world.

Islamophobia: a word created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate morons.

Religion is poison because it asks us to give up our most precious faculty, which is that of reason, and to believe things without evidence. It then asks us to respect this, which it calls faith.

Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence.

Human beings are pattern-seeking animals who will prefer even a bad theory or a conspiracy theory to no theory at all.

I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.

High moral character is not a precondition for great moral accomplishments.

What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

Why do humans exist? A major part of the answer: because Pikaia Gracilens survived the Burgess decimation.

The only real radicalism in our time will come as it always has—from people who insist on thinking for themselves and who reject party-mindedness.

Nature and truth are one, and immutable, and inseparable as beauty and love.

You are always hoping that movie audiences are interested in characters and interested in story values rather than just mindless special effects. But you never know.

One thing I had hoped Barack Obama would be is a good cheerleader for the country. He's really brought the opposite in spirit to the country.

When the study of the arts leads to the adoration of the formula (heaven forbid), we shall be lost.

But Dad and I are the only father-and-daughter acts who have both had No. 1 songs in England.

To create man was a quaint and original idea, but to add the sheep was tautology.

Don't turn on monitization, typically, until it's going to be significant.

My biggest advice for women writer/directors is to always be attempting to make work that avoids pandering to the conceptions that the industry has put in place for "women directors."

I'm a performer. We don't retire.

I feel excited about getting older as an actress, too. I think there are some amazing opportunities around the corner and I don't need to hold on to myself or who I was when I was 25.