"It is quite common to hear high officials in Washington and elsewhere speak of changing the map of the Middle East, as if ancient societies and myriad peoples can be shaken up like so many peanuts in …"

"The intellectual is someone who is always standing up for the truth, even if it means sacrificing his own comfort."

"The role of the intellectual is to disturb the status quo, to challenge established truths, to question authority."

"The Orient is an idea that has been fabricated by the West to serve its own interests."

"The media is the modern court where reputations are made and unmade."