"The basic assumption of the secular society is that modernity overcomes religion."

"You cannot make peace with terrorists. The normal dividing lines between war and peace do not apply."

"I forced myself to think what is the new concept and it became clear to me that it was risk, not only in technology and ecology, but in life and employment, too."

"You need education. You need subsistence protection. We need jobs and social security. These are preconditions under which it will perhaps be possible to deal with these complex circumstances."

"There's full consensus in the military that women shouldn't be in person-to-person combat. I don't know if we have enough experience to know whether this is the right approach. But women can be elsewhere. We have mandatory military service in Chile. I pushed for women in all areas."

"When times are tough, constant conflict may be good politics but in the real world, cooperation works better. After all, nobody's right all the time, and a broken clock is right twice a day."

"True knowledge is found not in possessing answers, but in continually asking the right questions. For where clarity resides, peace inevitably follows."

"If only I wasn't an atheist, I could get away with anything. You'd just ask for forgiveness and then you'd be forgiven. It sounds much better than having to live with guilt."