“Reality is not easy, but all this make-believe doesn’t make it easier.”

If such a young nation as the U.S. could make it to superpower status, we could do it as well.

Liberal capitalism is not perfect, but compared to the other ‘isms,’ it’s far superior.

In a well-functioning democracy, the state constitution is considered more important than God’s holy book, whichever holy book that may be, and God matters only in your private life.

You’ll be pleased to hear, Christopher, that I am no longer a Muslim liberal but an atheist, I find that it obviates the necessity for any cognitive dissonance.

Women covering their heads is traditional, but now we’re seeing more and more women covering themselves from head to toe. This is said to be for religious reasons but it’s actually the conflation of religion and politics – every political movement has its slogans, flags and dress.

I talk about a Christianity that is enlightened enough to separate spirituality from the rest of life. Not just church and state, but knowledge and church.

I assume the closest members of my family don’t actually want to kill me, but the truth is that I have shamed and hurt them; they have to deal with the outrage that my public statements cause, and undoubtedly some members of my clan do want to kill me for that.

I call myself a liberal – a classical liberal as in John Stuart Mill.

I confront the European elite’s self-image as tolerant ‘while under their noses women are living like slaves.

Young people, some of whom are not born into the faith, are being fired up by preachers using basic Islamic scripture and mobilized to wage jihad by radical imams who represent themselves as legitimate Muslim clergymen.

It takes a long time to dissolve the bars of a mental cage.

I want people to emphasize life before death as opposed to life after death.

I think of Canada, first and foremost, in terms of space. The amount of space available is breathtaking.

Every time I went on TV I got a threat.

Many people in Europe and the U.S. dispute the thesis that we are living through a clash of civilisations between Islam and the west. But a radical minority of Muslims firmly believes that Islam is under siege, and is committed to winning the holy war it has declared against the West.

As soon as something like Monty Python’s ‘The Life of Brian’ appears with a Muhammad figure as the main lead, directed by an Arabic Theo van Gogh, the controversial late Dutch filmmaker, we will have taken an enormous step forward.

Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.

Can we be easy on ourselves for once?

Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film. Your bright eyes and easy smile is your museum.

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learned to dance.

Evil is easy, and has infinite forms.

I love who I am, and I encourage other people to love and embrace who they are. But it definitely wasn’t easy – it took me a while.

I don’t need it to be easy. I just want it to be worth it.

It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.