I don't know whether I'm misanthropic. It seems to me I'm constantly disappointed. I'm very easily disappointed.

You can be a scientist and believe in god: the two can go hand in hand.

Boston's freeway system is insane. It was clearly designed by a person who had spent his childhood crashing toy trains.

Romans park their cars the way I would park if I had just spilled a beaker of hydrochloric acid on my lap.

To me, the greatest invention of my lifetime is the laptop computer and the fact that I can be working on a book and be in an airport lounge, in a hotel room, and continue working; I fire up my laptop, and I'm in exactly the same place I was when I left home - that, to me, is a miracle.

Geologists are never at a loss for paperweights.

There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to split an infinitive, any more than we should forsake instant coffee and air travel because they weren't available to the Romans.