Tall and straight I may appear, but I will always be Ada inside. A crooked little person trying to tell the truth. The power is in the balance: we are our injuries, as much as we are our successes

There was a roaring in my ears and I lost track of what they were saying. I believe it was the physical manifestation of unbearable grief.

The loudest sound on earth, she thought, is a man with nothing to do.

But I've swallowed my pride before, that's for sure. I'm practically lined with my mistakes on the inside like a bad-wallpapered bathroom.

There are always more questions. Science as a process is never complete. It is not a foot race, with a finish line.... People will always be waiting at a particular finish line: journalists with their cameras, impatient crowds eager to call the race, astounded to see the scientists approach, pass the mark, and keep running. It's a common misunderstanding, he said. They conclude there was no race. As long as we won't commit to knowing everything, the presumption is we know nothing.

I don't understand how any good art could fail to be political.

The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away.