Blessedness consists in the accomplishment of our desires, and in our having only regular desires.

God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.

Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.

Punishment is justice for the unjust.

I didn't feel ready to leave home, because it went from no freedom to all freedom. And I was like, 'Oh, my God, I don't know what I'm doing in college.' There seemed to be no like-minded people where I was... I didn't have a clan. I didn't have a choir... There was no safety net.

We are all children of the same God, and we have to come together to solve our problems and not be fighting so much.

I think everyone in their 30s looks back at their 20s and thinks, 'Oh God, if I'd just done this and this, and not done that.'

My philosophy - inclusive and pluralist Islam, dedicated to service to human beings from every faith - is antithetical to armed rebellion.