"My favorite time in the cycles of public life is the time when the Pope is dead and they haven't elected a new one. There's no one in the world who is infallible for those weeks. And you know, I don't miss it."

"Religion is part of the human make-up. It's also part of our cultural and intellectual history. Religion was our first attempt at literature, the texts, our first attempt at cosmology, making sense of where we are in the universe, our first attempt at health care, believing in faith healing, our first attempt at philosophy."

"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."

"I used to wish there was a useful term for those of us who thought American power should be used to remove psychopathic dictators."

"You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight."

"Change your opinions, keep to your principles change your leaves, keep intact your roots."

"Men are self-confident because they grow up identifying with super-heroes. Women have bad self-images because they grow up identifying with Barbie."

"Pop culture is a reflection of social change, not a cause of social change."