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All Quotes by author - Christopher Hitchens

" A faction willing to take the risks of making war on the ossified status quo in the Middle East can be described as many things, but not as conservative. "

" A gentleman is never rude except on purpose - I can honestly be nasty sober, believe you me. "

" A good day is one where I can not just read a book, but write a review of it. Maybe today I'll be able to do that. I get for some reason somewhat stronger when the sun starts to go down. Dusk is a good time for me. I'm crepuscular. "

" All the time, I've felt that life is a wager and that I probably was getting more out of leading a bohemian existence as a writer than I would have if I didn't. "

" A lot of people, because of my contempt for the false consolations of religion, think of me as a symbolic public opponent of that in extremis. And sometimes that makes me feel a bit alarmed, to be the repository of other people's hope. "

" And when I was young, my family was perfectly nice. I write a lot about it, as you noticed. But it was rather limited. I think, I don't think anyone in my family would really feel I'd done them an injustice by saying that. We didn't see many people. There were many books. It was as if I wanted to get away from home. "

" A speech idiosyncrasy, in the same way as an air quote, is really justifiable only if it's employed very sparingly and if the user consciously intends to be using it. "

" Beautiful sentences pop into my head. Beautiful sentences that aren't always absolutely accurate. Then, I have to choose between the beautiful sentence and being absolutely accurate. It can be a difficult choice. "

" 'Bombing Afghanistan back into the Stone Age' was quite a favourite headline for some wobbly liberals. The slogan does all the work. But an instant's thought shows that Afghanistan is being, if anything, bombed out of the Stone Age. "

" Cancer victimhood contains a permanent temptation to be self-centred and even solipsistic. "

" Chemotherapy isn't good for you. "

" Chemotherapy isn't good for you. So when you feel bad, as I am feeling now, you think, 'Well that is a good thing because it's supposed to be poison. If it's making the tumor feel this queasy, then I'm OK with it.' "

" Even if I accepted that Jesus - like almost every other prophet on record - was born of a virgin, I cannot think that this proves the divinity of his father or the truth of his teachings. The same would be true if I accepted that he had been resurrected. "

" Even with all the advantages of retrospect, and a lot of witnesses dead and gone, you can't make your life look as if you intended it or you were consistent. All you can show is how you dealt with various hands. "

" Every now and then I will see a word as if for the first time, and suddenly appreciate that Evian is 'naive' spelled backward, or that Bosnia is an anagram of 'bonsai.' "

" For most of my life I let women do the driving and was happy to let them. "

" For the people who ostensibly wish me well or are worried about my immortal soul, I say I take it kindly. "

" George Bush made a mistake when he referred to the Saddam Hussein regime as 'evil.' Every liberal and leftist knows how to titter at such black-and-white moral absolutism. "

" Henry Kissinger should have the door shut in his face by every decent person and should be shamed, ostracized and excluded. "

" High moral character is not a precondition for great moral accomplishments. "

" I became a journalist because one didn't have to specialise. "

" I became a journalist partly so that I wouldn't ever have to rely on the press for my information. "

" I boldly assert, in fact I think I know, that a lot of friendships and connections absolutely depend upon a sort of shared language, or slang. Not necessarily designed to exclude others, this can establish a certain comity and, even after a long absence, re-establish it in a second. "

" I could not do what I do, and teach a class, and never miss a deadline, never be late for anything if I was a lush, OK? I would really love to read a piece that said, 'He is not a lush.' That would be fabulous, it would be a first, I could show it to people and say, 'Look!' "

" I'd always somehow felt slightly as if I'd been born in the wrong country. "

" I didn't think Marilyn Monroe was beautiful. It used to worry me. I thought maybe I'm not put together like the other chaps. "

" I do not believe any of the statistical claims that are made about public opinion. I don't see why anybody does. "

" I don't consider myself to be that credulous. "

" I don't envy or much respect people who are completely politicised. "

" I don't even like showing my stuff to publishers and editors much. "

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