In these surreal days, there is one truth. Nothing justified the killing of innocent people in America last week and nothing justifies the killing of innocent people anywhere else.

Official truths are often powerful illusions.

It is time we recognized that the real terrorism is poverty.

During my lifetime, America has been constantly waging war against much of humanity: impoverished people mostly, in stricken places.

It is not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas of the message and the myths that surround it.

There isn't a war on terror, there is a war of terror.

If I were a teacher, I would recommend that all my students very hurriedly read most of Orwell's books, especially 1984 and Animal Farm, because then they'd begin to understand the world we live in.

Two increasing themes which appear to dominate our listening, reading and watching lives are propaganda and 'national security', or manufactured war.

Secretive power loathes journalists who do their job: who push back screens, peer behind façades, lift rocks. Opprobrium from on high is their badge of honour.

There is no war on terrorism; it is the great game speeded up. The difference is the rampant nature of the superpower, ensuring infinite dangers for us all.

An elite group of less than a billion people now take more than 80 per cent of the world's wealth.

Art is freedom. Being able to bend things most people see as a straight line.

Eventually we all must return home, Praetor. We must embrace our past, no matter how bitter and dark." — Orion

There are many fish in the sea, but never let a good one swim away.

There's a magic that comes from playing entirely to who you are. I've got my specialist subject - in the Mastermind sense - and I wouldn't change it, or who I am.

Land of opportunity, land for the huddled masses where would the opportunity have been without the genocide of those Old Guard, bristling Indian tribes?

If your home is peaceful, then you're going to go out in your day peacefully.

Writing a novel is like building a wall brick by brick; only amateurs believe in inspiration.

It is necessary to study these words you have written, for the words have a longer history than you have and say more than you know.

People tend to overestimate my character," I say quietly. "They think that because I'm small, or a girl, or a Stiff, I can't possibly be cruel. But they're wrong.

I am not a theologian or a philosopher. I am a story teller.