"'WASP' is the only ethnic term that is in fact a term of class, apart from redneck, which is another word for the same group but who are in the lower social strata, so it's inexplicably tied up with social standing and culture and history in a way that the other hyphenations just are not."

"People until I was 60 would always say they thought I looked younger, which I think, without flattering myself, I did, but I think I certainly have, as George Orwell says people do after a certain age, the face they deserve."

"Even if I accepted that Jesus - like almost every other prophet on record - was born of a virgin, I cannot think that this proves the divinity of his father or the truth of his teachings. The same would be true if I accepted that he had been resurrected."

"I don't think the war in Afghanistan was ruthlessly enough waged."

"The secret source of humor is not joy but sorrow there is no humor in Heaven."

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

"Every knee will bend before me, and every tongue shall give glory to God."

"But in terms of how people live together, how we minimize the prospects of conflict and maximize the prospects of peace, the place of religion in our society today is essential."