“Do I have opinions that might piss people off? Yes - that's what I'm here for.”

“I'm always on the lookout for something good about people. Often months go by.”

“I'm an admirer of everything Dr. Martin Luther King stood for, but I don't think he would have stood for this”

“One question in my mind, which I hardly dare mention in public, is whether patriotism has, overall, been a force for good or evil in the world. Patriotism is rampant in war and there are some good things about it. Just as self-respect and pride bring out the best in an individual, pride in family, pride in teammates, pride in hometown bring out the best in groups of people. War brings out the kind of pride in country that encourages its citizens in the direction of excellence and it encourages them to be ready to die for it. At no time do people work so well together to achieve the same goal as they do in wartime. Maybe that's enough to make patriotism eligible to be considered a virtue. If only I could get out of my mind the most patriotic people who ever lived, the Nazi Germans.”

“My mother always called me 'sturdy' and said I have big bones. A little fat is what I am.”

“People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe.”

“I'd be more willing to accept religion, even if I didn't believe it, if I thought it made people nicer to each other but I don't think it does.”