In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.

Hesitate once, hesitate twice, hesitate a hundred times before employing political standards as a device for the analysis and appreciation of poetry.

The point of protesting about 'moral equivalence' is surely not to blur moral choices on ‘our side’. Is it?

I want to urge you very strongly to travel as much as you can, and to evolve yourself as an internationalist. It's as important a part of your education as a radical as the reading of any book.

What is your idea of earthly happiness? To be vindicated in my own lifetime.

I don't think it's possible to have a sense of tragedy without having a sense of humor.