“When Men fly from danger, it is natural for them to run farther than they need.”

“We know not whom God loves nor whom He hates.”

“...[I]t behooves a man who wants to see wonders sometimes to go out of his way.”

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”

“Of Paradise I cannot speak properly, for I have not been there; and that I regret.”

“But when you have order, you don't need Gods. When everything is well ordered and disciplined then nothing is unexpected. If you understand everything,' I said carefully, 'then there's no room left for magic. It's only when you're lost and frightened and in the dark that you call on the Gods, and they like us to call on them. It makes them feel powerful, and that's why they like us to live in chaos.”

“In 1940, we knew who we were, we knew who the enemy was, we knew the dangers and the issues," he told me when I pressed him for a reading of the struggle against Islamic radicalism. "In our island, we knew we would prevail, that the Americans would be drawn into the fight. It is different today. We don't know who we are, we don't know the issues, and we still do not understand the nature of the enemy.”