There's always a reaction based on fear. People assume if you're criticizing a decision to go to war, then you're saying something against the soldiers-which is not the case

The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.

I love Amsterdam. The city is vibrant and alive. It's fresh and so open. It's definitely one of my favorite places.

The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.

I have no interest in understanding sheep, only eating them.

The problem with religion, because it's been sheltered from criticism, is that it allows people to believe en masse what only idiots or lunatics could believe in isolation.

Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.

And be grateful. Our scars have the power to remind us that the past was real.

Human emotions are a gift from our animal ancestors. Cruelty is a gift humanity has given itself.

When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'

Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn't care to, or he doesn't exist. God is either impotent, evil, or imaginary. Take your pick, and choose wisely.

Being with you never felt wrong. It's the one thing I did right. You're the one thing I did right.

That's one of the remarkable things about life. It's never so bad that it can't get worse.

I realize that a writer's business is setting fire to Piggy Sneed-and trying to save him-again and again

Much of the excitement we get out of our work is that we don't really know what we are doing.

We never had a bathtub. Mom would bathe me in the wooden or tin washtub in the kitchen, or in a big lard can.

Contemporary art hates you.

Every day, I wish to make the world more beautiful than I found it.

We've thrown out Saddam and Saddam, dead or alive, is finished in Iraq.

It has long been my desire to be a little worm in the fair apple of Progress.

How some of the writers I come across get through their books without dying of boredom is beyond me.