When people can do something simple to avoid conflict--say, hit a button or unlock a latch--they'll generally do it.

Maybe the trying is the thing. Maybe it doesn't get better than that. Maybe you never quite get there. And maybe that's okay.

Sometimes when you push someone, you find out who that person really is.

Relationships are never chance events.

There's no original evil left in the world. Everyone's just recycling pain. (257)

People blush when one of their core truths is revealed.

The roots of any evil deed can be traced to the perpetrator's refusal to experience pain.

But insight doesn't necessarily produce self-control. Sometimes you just see your destructiveness more clearly.

The bad things don't seem to happen to bad people.' That's because they already did. There's no original evil left in the world.

Plenty of people who survive tragedies end up ambivalent about danger--frightened by it, yet strangely drawn to it.

...Some people hurt so much they can't take what they need, even when someone wants to give it to them. (106)

It started long before this, when stars were mere particles in swirling clouds of dust. And every event since has conspired to bring us together.

His interest, after all, was not in the origin of species but in their demise.

The radio was shouting at you, pleading with you, and seducing you.

Trusting the government to monitor your calls without listening. It's kind of like trusting Chris Christie to pick up the McDonald's and not eat the fries on the way home.

Perversnes makes one squint ey'd.

I would describe my style as off the wall. I like stuff that doesn't match. I just like to stand out.

Mediocre men sometimes fear great office, and when they do not aim at it, or when they refuse it, all that is to be concluded is that they are aware of their mediocrity.

I talk to myself all the time. Just make sure you answer.

The magic moment is the moment when a 'yes' or a 'no' can change our whole existence.

For the complete life, the perfect pattern includes old age as well as youth and maturity.