Such narrative arcs make good movies but shitty existences.

Nothing attunes you to the beauty of the quotidian like a man who decides not to kill you after all

A book can’t be a half-fantasy any more than a woman can be half pregnant

The empowered may serve justice, remodel the Earth, transform lush nations into smoking battlefields, and bring down skyscrapers, but power itself is amoral.

Power and moneyLike Pooh Bear and honeyStick fast.

Not a clue – and, no, I don’t touch drugs. The world’s unstable enough without scrambling your brain for kicks.

Nonfiction that smells like fiction is neither.

Books’ll be back, ” Esther-in-Unalaq predicts. “Wait till the power grids start failing in the 2030s and the datavats get erased. It’s not far away. The future looks a lot like the past.

The Future, ” says Ian, in a film-trailer voice. “Coming soon, to a Present near you.

Prayer may be a placebo for the disease of helplessness, but placebos can make you feel better.

Here’s the truth: Who is spared love is spared grief.

To be poor, ugly and, moreover, intelligent condemns one in our society to a dark and disillusioned life...to beauty all is forgiven.

Nothing is easier than self-deceit.For what every man wishes, that he also believes to be true.

Truths are as much a matter of questions as answers.

We laugh, that we may not cry.

Later: Woke up at 3:00 am and crept into Davids room. I talked to David about the ghost who came to live in his body, the sad soul who was taken back into the earth.David’s trophies are dusty again.

Selfishness Stops The Flow Of Blessings To You and Others

You're going to die. That's going to happen. What matters is what you do with your time before you get flushed out.

All great ideas should be followed by an exclamation mark - a warning signal similar to the skull and crossbones drawn on high-voltage transformers.

No man under forty can be dignified with the title of gourmet.

Hope's one thing, expectation's quite another.