One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.

We do not covet anything from any nation except their respect.

I have no right by anything I do or say to demean a human being in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him it is what he thinks of himself. To undermine a man's self-respect is a sin.

Perhaps the surest test of an individual's integrity is his refusal to do or say anything that would damage his self-respect.

What use is revelation or religion if it doesnt change anything?

What I miss today more than anything else - I don't go to church as much anymore - but that old-time religion that old singing that old praying which I love so much. That is the great strength of my being of my writing.

I think that Sufism fits all over the world. The concept is not anything that fits standard Western ideas - it's always related to culture to music to religion. It is a dominant religion in Senegal.

In Lincoln's day a President's religion was a very private affair. There were no public prayer meetings no attempts to woo the Religious Right. Few of Lincoln's countrymen knew anything at all of his religious beliefs.

Some people are that - more than a parent more than a role model more than anything less than a religion.

Haven't two hundred years of failed missionary work overseas taught anybody anything? You can't convert people to anything - whether religion or something as inane as our flicks.