As the situation developed, the futility of attempting suicide in the middle of a hospital became apparent.

Impulsive actions led to trouble, and trouble could have unpleasant consequences.

I am a rapist and a sadistic pig,' if you get that tattoo removed I will carve it into your forehead, do you understand?

Always retain the ability to walk away, without sentimentality, from a situation that felt unmanageable. That was a basic rule of survival. Don't lift a finger for a lost cause.

Men who just call to say hello generally have ulterior motives.

Everyone has secrets. It's just a matter of finding out what they are

But if you want to win, you're going to have to fight.

There were not so many physical threats that could not be countered with a decent hammer.

No, I don't believe in God, but I respect the fact that you do. Everyone has to have something to believe in.

I know what kind of things I myself have been irritated by in detective stories. They are often about one or two persons, but they don't describe anything in the society outside.

I'm not going to apologize for the way I've led my life.

...opportunities typically come disguised as impossible problems. And while most people run away from their problems, Shamgars run at them with their oxgoads.

The method of science is tried and true. It is not perfect, it's just the best we have. And to abandon it, with its skeptical protocols, is the pathway to a dark age.

Sometimes it helps to begin our prayers by confessing we don't feel like praying-and ask God to help us with our preference to be doing something else.

Sometimes the lights all shining on me, other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me what a long strange trip it's been.

A fool will seek revenge, the wise man will allow God's karma.

If we lacked imagination enough to foresee something better, life would indeed be a tragedy.

I read assiduously. I kept in touch with my species.

I'm necessarily parasitic in a way. I have done well as a parasite. But I'm still a parasite.

Blasphemy? No, it is not blashphemy. If God is as vast as that, he is above blasphemy; if he is as little as that, He is beneath it.

Silence is an argument in favor of the status quo. A refusal to address an inequity is a strategy for maintaining that inequity.