We came from Bethlehem, Georgia bearing Betty Crocker cake mixes into the jungle.

There's always a part of your nation's history that you haven't been told that... has a powerful impact on how you yourself may behave and may believe.

For scientists, reality is not optional.

The writing has been on the wall for some years now, but we are a nation illiterate in the language of the wall. The writing just gets bigger. Something will eventually bring down the charming, infuriating naïveté of Americans that allows us our blithe consumption and cheerful ignorance of the secret ugliness that bring us whatever we want.

it takes your sleeping self years to catch up to where you really are. ... when you go on a trip, in your dreams you will still be home. Then after you've come home you'll dream of where you were. It's a kind of jet lag of the consciousness.

I love developing children as characters. Children rarely have important roles in literary fiction - they are usually defined as cute or precious, or they create a plot by being kidnapped or dying.

Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization.