Something was badly amiss with the spiritual life of the planet...Too many demons inside people claiming to believe in God.

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

Together with open conversations and greater understanding, we can ensure that attitudes for mental health change and children receive the support they deserve.

There is no art which government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.

If I ruled the world, every woman would have a Chanel suit in her wardrobe.

I've always got about four albums in my head.

It's a tradition in Islamic society to issue pardons at the end of Ramadan.

Politics are vulgar when they are not liberalised by history, and history fades into mere literature when it loses sight of its relation to practical politics.

There is no pure, disinterested, theory-free observation.

The self-righteous rule out the possibility that they are what has gone wrong.

You perceive, do you not, that our national fairy tales reflect the inmost desires of the Briton and the Gaul?

I love the idea of making a movie for kids but it's got to be that, with my take on it.