“It is a bad idea to fixate on the wedding day while neglecting the rest of a marriage in which an initial virgin may stray into illicit beds. A onetime sexual tiger who becomes monogamous ( through sheer force of will or love) in marriage may deserve quite a bit more applause than the wedding-day virgin who later strays.”

“I also argue that sin (or at least our thinking about it) has evolved significantly since the 1950s and continues to do so, such that Fidel Castro’s confident cri de Coeur from the early 1960’s, “History will absolve me,” could work today for a great many religious Jews and Christians wrestling with their conscience.”

“It is now illegal in the United States to perform genital alteration on female minors, no matter how minimal the surgery or how safe and sanitary the procedure. Newborn male genital alteration, however, is an accepted procedure in the United States.”

“It is a fact verified and recorded in many histories that soul capable of the greatest good is also capable of the greatest evil. Who is there more impious than backsliding priest? Who more carnal than a recent virgin? This, however, may be a matter of appearance.”

“Never ignore someone who loves you and cares about you. 'Cause one day you may realize you lost the moon while counting stars.”

“I would love you all the day, every night we would kiss and play, if with me you'd fondly stray, over the hills and far away.”

“[I]t is not by being richer or more powerful that a man becomes better; one is a matter of fortune, the other of virtue. Nor should she deem herself other than venal who weds a rich man rather than a poor, and desires more things in her husband than himself. Assuredly, whomsoever this concupiscence leads into marriage deserves payment rather than affection.”