Selected Quotations by Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens died yesterday.  He was 62.  He was a man of strong opinions that were forcefully and literately expressed; but he was a man of character.

Here are some thoughts of his to savor:

"Terrorism is the tactic of demanding the impossible, and demanding it at gunpoint." - Slate, 2002

 "[O]wners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realise that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods." - The Portable Atheist

"The four most overrated things in life are champagne, lobster, anal sex and picnics." - The New Yorker, 2006

"Every day, the New York Times carries a motto in a box on its front page. "All the News That's Fit to Print," it says. It's been saying it for decades, day in and day out. I imagine most readers of the canonical sheet have long ceased to notice this bannered and flaunted symbol of its mental furniture. I myself check every day to make sure that the bright, smug, pompous, idiotic claim is still there. Then I check to make sure that it still irritates me. If I can still exclaim, under my breath, why do they insult me and what do they take me for and what the hell is it supposed to mean unless it's as obviously complacent and conceited and censorious as it seems to be, then at least I know I still have a pulse. You may wish to choose a more rigorous mental workout but I credit this daily infusion of annoyance with extending my lifespan." - Letters to a Young Contrarian

"My own view is that this planet is used as a penal colony, lunatic asylum and dumping ground by a superior civilization, to get rid of the undesirable and unfit. I can't prove it, but you can't disprove it either." - God Is Not Great

"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence." - Slate, 2003

The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species."- God Is Not Great