My personal belief is that because technology and economic logic has gotten so sophisticated, cruelties can be perpetrated now that would have been unimaginable two or three hundred years ago.

For me, boviscopophobia is an even stronger motive than semi-agoraphobia for staying on the ship when we're in port.

It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.

The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.

The fun of reading as "an exchange between consciousnesses, a way for human beings to talk to each other about stuff we can't normally talk about."

Look, man, we'd probably most of us agree that these are dark times, and stupid ones, but do we need fiction that does nothing but dramatize how dark and stupid everything is?

People, unless they're paying attention, tend to confuse fanciness with intelligence or authority.