He thinks of the all steps that gathered this party and marvels at the weaverless looms of fortune.

So little is actually worthy of belief or disbelief. Better to strive to coexist than seek to disapprove . . .

One's ribs shouldn't be prison bars.

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love.

How gleefully life shreds our well crafted plans.

The truth of a myth, your Honor, is not its words but its patterns.

I wish, he thinks, spoken words could be captured and kept in a locket.

What man ain't the honestest cove in his own eyes?" Grote's round face is a bronze moon in the dark. "'Tain't good intentions what paves the road to hell: it's self-justifyin's.

The human understanding is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature.

But thought has no eyelids to close or ears to block...

Anna would like you, he thinks, looking into her face. Anna would like you.

After all, what else is scientific enquiry of any sort other than a controlled version of banging one's head against the universe until something gives?

It was her eyes. Soft, meadow-shade eyes with frostbitten edges. Every glance casually held gossamer infinity. Every stare revealed inky black abyss with a hint of divinity.

Gallows humor is part of having a doctor in the house. Deal with it.

You couldn't even prove the White House staff sane beyond a reasonable doubt.

I really haven't seen this many people in one place since they took group photographs of all the criminals and lawbreakers in the Ronald Reagan administration.

With whom do you argue? With a woman, of course. Not with a friend, because he accepted all your defects the moment he found you. Besides, woman is mother-have we forgotten?

I wanted to make a horror film about beauty.

What millennials really want from the church is not a change in style but a change in substance.

Education has to cultivate humility and discipline, but today it is yielding a harvest of pride and envy.

I put myself in the studio and I really made sure to say, 'Well, if I would normally reach for a trumpet, why don't I reach for the next nearest instrument instead?'