“A quest for knowledge is not a war with faith; spirituality is not usually an infelicitous amalgam of superstition and philistinism; and moral relativism, taken outside midfield, leads inexorably both to heresy and to secular wickedness, which are often identical.”

“All emphasis in American prisons is on punishment, retribution, and disparagement, and almost none is on rehabilitation.”

“Although his personality is generally quite agreeable, Mr Murdoch has no loyalty to anyone or anything except his company.”

“At least 80 percent of American prisoners are grossly over-sentenced. The Supreme Court knows this, but shows scant concern for this human side of criminal justice.”

“From the early Seventies to the mid-Eighties, I approached Rome at a snail's pace. Having concluded that God existed, I could not seriously entertain the thought of not trying to be in contact with Him.”

“Guerrilla wars, and even more so terrorist assaults, are conducted only by forces with insufficient strength to carry out a real war.”

“I always keep a firewall between my own travails and my perception of public-policy issues; otherwise I would retain no credibility as a commentator.”

“I am a passport-carrying citizen of the E.U.”

“I am proud of being in a U.S. federal prison and surviving it.”

“I do not at all have the mind of a bully... in my mind bullies are intolerant of contrary opinion, domineering and rather cowardly. I would hope that none of those terms could be fairly used in describing me.”

“I don't go around trying to stir up foreign wars.”

“I don't have any shame.”

“I made 50 million bucks yesterday. That's a flameout I could get used to.”

“I may have made a mistake in renouncing my Canadian citizenship, which I have never ceased to promise to try to regain.”

“I never ask for mercy and seek no one's sympathy.”

“I'm not a xenophobe - I think immigration is a good thing for most countries - but they transmute the foibles of their native tongues into English in a way that's difficult to figure out.”

“Maximising my wealth was never my chief thing.”

“No one could seriously dispute that almost all of sub-Saharan Africa, all of North Africa except Morocco, all of the Middle East except Israel and Jordan and most of the oil-rich states, and the entire former British Indian Empire were better governed by Europeans.”

“Private-sector firms are increasingly active in the prison industry and they and the militantly unionized correctional officers, almost all unskilled labor, constantly lead public demands for more criminal statutes and more draconian penalties.”

“Rupert Murdoch is probably the most successful media proprietor and operator in history.”

“Terrorists cannot threaten the survival of a great nation.”

“The United States is a proud, determined, hard-working, talented, patriotic nation and people, and it is not over-extended in the manner of empires of the past that took over the lands of others and eventually collapsed under the weight of the over-ambitious hegemon.”

“The U.S. prosecution service is eating at the soul of the American republic. It is an absolute danger to everyone.”

“The vicar of Christ is an individual, not an electorate.”

“There are some people whose opinion I value and respect and it would be very bothersome if I forfeited their respect. But the general public? I'm not preoccupied with the opinions of others.”

“There is no doubt that the second President Bush inherited a very serious terrorist threat, though not such a threat as had been represented by the totalitarian Great Powers, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.”