The most despicable humans are the ones who always feel virtuous and look down on the rest of the world.

I tried to swallow his nonsense without choking.

Not evil. Moronic, which isn't quite the same thing. Evil presupposes a moral decision, intention, and some forethought. A moron or a lout, however, doesn't stop to think or reason. He acts on instinct, like a stable animal, convinced he's doing good, that he's always right, and sanctimoniously proud to go around f***ing up ... anyone he perceives to be different from himself, be it because of skin color, creed, language, nationality, or ... leisure habits. What the world needs is more thoroughly evil people and fewer borderline pigheads.

But in good time you'll see that sometimes what matters isn't what one gives but what one gives up.

Where he had failed, I would triumph. Where he had lost his way, I would find the path out of the labyrinth.

After a while it occurred to me that between the covers of each of those books lay a boundless universe waiting to be discovered while beyond those walls, in the outside world, people allowed life to pass by in afternoons of football and radio soaps, content to do little more than gaze at their navels.

One is never wholly conscious of the greed hidden in one's heart until one hears the sweet sound of silver.