As is so often the case with pieces that appear in the 'Onion,' I honestly could not decide whether this was a clever hoax or not - the arguments were almost exactly as stupid as the real thing. Christopher Hitchens More Quotes by Christopher Hitchens More Quotes From Christopher Hitchens It [Obama's Nobel peace prize] would be like giving someone an Oscar in the hope that it would encourage them to make a decent motion picture. Christopher Hitchens oscars would-be giving Many more people are poor and sick because of the life of MT: Even more will be poor and sick if her example is followed. She was a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud, and a church that officially protects those who violate the innocent has given us another clear sign of where it truly stands on moral and ethical questions. Christopher Hitchens ethical-questions sick people She's got no charisma of any kind [but] I can imagine her being mildly useful to a low-rank porn director. Christopher Hitchens imagine kind directors In particular, it is absurd to hope to banish envy of other people's possessions or fortunes, if only because the spirit of envy can lead to emulation and ambition and have positive consequences. Christopher Hitchens envy ambition people Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar. Christopher Hitchens tables witty fun Pakistan has to export a lot of uneducated people, many of whom have become infected with the most barbaric reactionary ideas. Christopher Hitchens pakistan people ideas You can't have occupation and human rights. Christopher Hitchens human-rights occupation rights The discovery there is no god is a great relief, because if there were, it would be like living in a celestial North Korea if there was one. You would never be able to escape. Christopher Hitchens korea discovery religion I don't think there's any need to have essays advocating selfishness among human beings; I don't know what your impression has been, but some things require no further reinforcement. Christopher Hitchens selfishness needs thinking The rich world likes and wishes to believe that someone, somewhere, is doing something for the Third World. For this reason, it does not inquire too closely into the motives or practices of anyone who fulfills, however vicariously, this mandate. Christopher Hitchens practice wish believe To remember friendship is to recall those conversations that it seemed a sin to break off Christopher Hitchens break-off sin remember History is a tragegy, not a morality tale. Christopher Hitchens tales morality history All the excitements of a prohibited book had their usual effect, one of which, as always, is to expose the fact that the censors don't know what they are talking about. Christopher Hitchens usual talking book The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more. Christopher Hitchens atheist song motivational Trust is not the same as faith. A friend is someone you trust. Putting faith in anyone is a mistake. Christopher Hitchens faith mistake I, for one, will not have [the Vietcong] insulted by any comparison to the forces of Zarqawi, the Fedayeen Saddam, and the criminal underworld now arrayed against us. These depraved elements are the Iraqi Khmer Rouge. Christopher Hitchens criminals elements force Religion, it is true, still possesses the huge if cumbersome and unwieldy advantage of having come first. Christopher Hitchens advantage religion firsts I can’t hope to convey the full effect of the embraces and avowals, but I can perhaps offer a crumb of counsel. If there is anybody known to you who might benefit from a letter or a visit, do not on any account postpone the writing or the making of it. The difference made will almost certainly be more than you have calculated Christopher Hitchens benefits differences writing Do not imagine that you can escape judgment if you rob people with a false prospectus rather than with a knife. Christopher Hitchens judgment knives people As the many male victims of rape in the regime's disgusting jails can testify, this state-run pathology of sexual repression and sexual sadism is not content to degrade women only. Christopher Hitchens sadism jail running