Quotes from Lawrence Wright

Nothing in American history can compare with the scale of the domestic espionage of Operation Snow White.

Indeed, it's an irony that the figure who most embodies the values people associate with the state is a narcissistic Manhattan billionaire now sitting in the Oval Office.

Bolstered by the imprimatur

By giving her what she most wanted, he also placed her and the Indonesian government under his direction. What had been granted could also be taken away. That was an authority he had just awarded himself.

Some Islamic scholars explain these injunctions by saying that they apply only when war is initiated by the infidels, or when Muslims are persecuted, or when Islam itself is threatened. The Quran, these thinkers point out, also bids the Muslims to "fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, and be not aggressive; surely God loves not the aggressors

Henry inhaled the steam from his cup. "What's that spice?" he asked. "Cardamom, cloves, and saffron," Majid said. "We are addicted to this concoction.

art and religion.

It is well to learn the ethnic backgrounds of your parents, to love and cherish the ancient folklore. But never, never forget, you are an American first. And millions of Americans before you have fought for your freedom. The Nation holds all the terms of our endearment. Support, defend and honor those whose duty it is to keep it safe.

In Austin, we don't have such high expectations of chihuahuas.

Xenu and a few evil conspirators—mainly psychiatrists—fed false information to the population to draw them into centers where Xenu's troops could destroy them. "One of the mechanisms they used was to tell them to come in for an income-tax investigation

With more than a million Texans licensed to carry handguns, the state is actually far behind Florida, with 1.7 million. I'm EMBARRASSED, Governor Greg Abbott tweeted in 2015; Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let's pick up the pace Texans. @NRA

Rathbun's strategy followed Hubbard's dictate that the purpose of a lawsuit is "to harass and discourage rather than win.

THE BRIDGE TO TOTAL FREEDOM is a journey that goes on and on (although confoundingly, in the Scientology metaphor, one moves "higher and higher"—up the Bridge rather than across it).

Never have a felt so keenly the danger of new religious movements and the damage that is done to people who are lured into such groups, not out of weakness in character but through their desire to do good and live meaningful lives.

Everybody knows what's going on, she thought, but nobody knows where it's headed. And soon nobody will remember what the point was.

Are we ready to sell reality for a phantom?" Houston vainly asked, as propagandists and demagogues fanned the clamor for secession with deluded visions of victory. To

She confided to Eltringham that she wanted to kill herself in order to stop the suppressive body thetans from taking over her mind.

Henry explained his experiment on the submarine, using the variolation procedure.

Qutb hävdar att liv utan islam är slaveri; därför kan verklig frihet inte uppnås förrän jahiliyya har utplånats. Det är endast när människans styre har utrotats och sharia har införts som det inte kommer att finnas något tvång i religionen, för det finns bara ett val: islam.

Majid and Henry sat on the floor, staring at each other in the dazed amazement that only survivors know, where every detail is newly crisp and each fresh moment is like a crust of ice on a pond, a thin tangible layer between life and death.

This volume probably contains more promises and less evidence per page than has any publication since the invention of printing," the Nobel physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi wrote in his review of Dianetics for Scientific American.

I reflected that, when dynamic, positive change happens, it is usually because of generational commitment to social transformation.

And yet rapid change brings chaos as well as progress.

The security state that has grown up since 9/11 has transformed our culture; and yes, we have needed the protection. We are often reminded that we must "never forget" what happened on that fateful day. But if we fail to keep in mind the country we were before 9/11, we may never steer in that direction again. In that case, the terrorists really will have won.