“But it seemed like the more we advanced, the more the future looked impossible, making us return to the more radical times in the past.”

“Let us remember...that in the end we go to poetry for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit our lives and the world in which we live them, and that if we more fully inhabit these things, we might be less apt to destroy both.”

“Performing music is the job that has the most to do with the belief in the existence of a soul. I deal in Berg's soul, in Brahm's soul- that's my job. And you can can challenge me, but I find that music is humans' most advanced achievement, more so than painting and writing, because it's more mysterious, more magical, and it acts in such a direct way. Trying to turn lead into gold is nothing compared to taking something mechanical like an instrument- a string and a bow- and using it to evoke a human soul, perserved through the centuries.”

“It's not technology that limits us. We're the limitation. Our technology is an expression of our intelligence and creativity, so the limitations of our technology are a reflection of our own limitations. We can't fundamentally advance technology until we fundamentally advance ourselves.”

“For white people, nothing makes them appreciate the gift of life more than voluntarily trying to end it.”

“لم تعد المملكة جنّة السلم الإجتماعي كما وصفها المراقبون من قبل، وباتت مكشوفة أيضًا أمام تعبير احتجاجي مستمدّ من مصدر كانت تعتقد أنها تحتكره ... أعني بذلك الإسلام . ”

“we need a mass of ancestors at our backs as ballast. Sometimes, we feel it's impossible to push into the future without such a weight behind us, without such heaviness to keep us steady, even if it is imaginary. And the more frightening the future is, the more complicated it seems to be, the more we steady ourselves with the past.”