“I must stop to lament, that we cannot evince an admiring gratitude towards other excellent things by a like readiness of quotation: that we cannot, for instance, quote a star that we have been watching; or a hue of sunset; or a friend's voice, and his shake of the hand (I had almost said heart); or a beautiful picture—a Claude or Titian, for example.”

“I cannot call to mind a single instance where I have ever been irreverent, except toward the things which were sacred to other people.”

“Like I said, the Star Trek fans are the most loyal and lovely there are. It's a pleasure to be able to see their joy and to shake their hands or give them a hug of gratitude for their support.”

“That which we cannot speak of is the one thing about whom and to whom we must never stop speaking.”

“If I could put my hand on the north star, would it be as beautiful? The sea is lovely, but when we bathe in it, the beauty forsakes all the near water. For the imagination and senses cannot be gratified at the same time.”

“Here and in the hereafter, we must embrace all those who with absolute faith accept Allah in their hearts. We must pray to Allah in a state of unity, peacefulness, and truth, and then give greetings of peace to each brother. Standing face to face, our eyes looking directly into our brother's eyes, our hands clasping his hands, and our hearts embracing his heart with love, we must say, "May the peace of God be upon you." This is the unity and beauty of Islam, the beauty that Muhammad (Sal.) brought to the people. Wherever we go, our hearts must be in that state. Our prayers must be one-pointed, directed toward the same place, toward Allah, the One who is truth. If we can recite the praises of Allah and the Prophet, then look each other in the eye, give peaceful greetings, and embrace each other — if we can achieve that oneness of the heart with all lives, then we will be true believers.”

“We cannot go backward. We cannot erase time and events. But we can go forward, hand in hand, hope in our hearts and love lighting our way.”

“With soul of flame and temper of steel we must act as our coolest judgment bids us. We must exercise the largest charity towards the wrong-doer that is compatible with relentless war against the wrong-doing. We must be just to others, generous to others, and yet we must realize that it is a shameful and a wicked thing not to withstand oppression with high heart and ready hand. With gentleness and tenderness there must go dauntless bravery and grim acceptance of labor and hardship and peril.”

“We have no other choice, we have no power to stop the [U. S. ] planes, if we could, if I could … we would stop them and bring them down, … If we had a chelak, we would throw it and stop the American aircraft. We have no radar to stop them in the sky, we have no planes, … I wish I could intercept the planes that are going to bomb Afghan villages, but that’s not in my hands.”

“We had been friends. We could not become strangers. It left only one thing: we must be enemies.”