“This contest between the secular and religious visions of government is really the main choice to be made”

They don’t seem to be able to rise above these things.

I think the Shiites want a theocracy.

Everybody seems to be imprisoned in their own sectarian or political affiliations.

I think people are rapidly losing confidence in the political class, and I don’t blame them.

This country won’t be able to function properly.

If the security forces continue to be dominated as they are now by political groups or sects

I think that would have been useful and it would have helped to some extent.

Until and unless we could disband these militias

Then the people won’t trust in them – and the result will be civil war or fragmentation of the country.

An apology for the actions of some troops who, of course, are not representative of the majority of the armed forces here,

It won’t be decided in one election, but it is a basic choice between an open and progressive Iraq and one that is backward and continues to fall behind.

It won’t be a question of how well-trained or well-equipped the army is but one of the authority it serves.

Where lies the line between sorcery and science? It is only a matter of terminology, my friend.

How we navigate between false agreement and polarization is the kind of mastery that collective wisdom represents.

There is little difference technically between a complicated, confusing program and a simple, fun, and powerful product.

Some local boys come in and there is a bit of chat between them and the fish-fryer about whether the kestrel under the counter is for sale.

Imagine that. Per person. This means that if the time scale is diminished in proportion to that of space it would be quite possible for the whole story of Greece and Rome to be played out between farts.

For at least the past 65 years, liberalism has been nothing if not an attempt to strike a balance between the needs of the community and the needs of individuals, between the need for freedom and the need for order.

The difference between listening and pretending to listen, I discovered, is enormous. One is fluid, the other is rigid. One is alive, the other is stuffed.

I don’t believe in competitions between artists. This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better?