He almost blacks out again, but he’s not sure if it’s the stroke or the thrust gravity. He’s pretty sure driving blood pressure higher while having a stroke is considered poor form.

That’s what peace is, right? Postponing the conflict until the thing you were fighting over doesn’t matter.

It was some of Solomon’s favorite music because it was dense and intellectually complicated and he wasn’t expected to dance to it.

The grass is always greener on the other side of personal extinction.

On Mars, the joke went, a man’s hole was his castle where values of castle approached dorm room.

Sometimes the ultimate act of self-compassion is turning off your phone and looking someone in the eye.

Some of the greatest advances happen when people are bold enough to speak their truth and listen to others speak theirs.

It was March. The days of March creeping gustily on like something that man couldn't hinder and God wouldn't hurry.

All activity in the brain is driven by other activity in the brain, in a vastly complex, interconnected network.

One must not cheat anyone, not even the world of its victory.

People say life begins at conception, I say life began about a billion years ago and it's a continuous process.

He who despises life is his life's master.

Racism is an effect of slavery, not the other way around. Once slavery was abolished, not only did racism not disappear, neither did the economic system it upheld.

Much of my writing has taken the form of a pilgrimage: to sacred places that represent the best of America, to musicians and other artists who represent the best of their art.