I used to say, 'There is a God-shaped hole in me.' For a long time I stressed the absence, the hole. Now I find it is the shape which has become more important.

There are things you break that can't be put back together again. And Kashmir may be one of them.

Rock and roll music - the music of freedom frightens people and unleashes all manner of conservative defense mechanisms.

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.

One of the extraordinary things about human events is that the unthinkable becomes thinkable.

Language is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so to make it true.

‘Respect for religion’ has become a code phrase meaning ‘fear of religion.’ Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect.

In the cookie of life, friends are the chocolate chips.

Language upon a silvered tongue affords enchantment enough.

The whole story of migration and what that has done in interconnecting the planet is obviously something I've written about a lot.

faith without doubt is addiction

Imagine a world full of love.

If anyone asks for your autograph they're showing you respect and give it back to them.

When all is said and done, no literature can outdo the cynicism of real life; you won't intoxicate with one glass someone who has already drunk up a whole barrel.

If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before.

If you're not willing to risk, there are no rewards.

You cannot make a socialist revolution without really trying.

What opens my heart is when my son wakes me up in the morning, nudging me and saying, 'Mommy, mommy!'

We live in a time when there is an abundance of ways we can express ourselves.

Humanity is a natural foil for inhumanity, and humanity is what will ultimately keep us going when all else has failed.

There's nothing I like better than going to my apartment, closing the door, cooking my little dinner for one and just tuning out. My apartment really is my haven. It's a nest where I go to heal.