I had seen the few things I cared about forget me seamlessly. I had seen the life I never really fit into heal up around my absence like a wound scabbed over.

Maybe that was the secret to happiness, I thought, being free of the responsibility of yourself.

He was so far away now, or maybe he just looked distant because we were imaging different things for our future.

Tell me, is there someone in your life who's been sharing your life too closely? A friend or a loved one? Is there someone who's been taking up your time and not giving any of it back?

I did have a friend, ' I said.'And your friend trespassed upon you, ' the Wally replied.

There was no better way to live, or worse. It was all terrible, and you had to do it constantly,

There's a kind of pressure that your own life muscles onto you, to do something just like you would do, to behave just like yourself.

There was a hazy damp film in his eyes that I recognized from emotions in old movies, projected large on darkened screens.

What would men be without women? Scarce, sir...mighty scarce.

No, I'm the human here. I'm the life at stake. I'm the one with fingernails, who feels pain.Me.

If you are not careful you will end up living the illusions that others have created for you.

Meditation is not evasion

If a bacterium is trying to infect you, it won't secrete alone, because your immune system will block it. Bacteria will hide until they can all act together and make an impact.

Never be grandiloquent when you want to drive home a searching truth. Don't whip with a switch that has the leaves on, if you want it to tingle.

You gotta choose what battles you can win.

A great power has to have the discipline not only to go when necessary but to know when not to go. Getting involved in ethnic, religious civil wars is a recipe for disaster.

Saddam Hussein certainly has chemical and biological weapons. There's no question about that.

Keep writing, because not only does practice improve skill, it gives you more chances to score on the market. I did that for eight years before making my first sale.