Nothing gives us courage more readily than the desire to avoid looking like a damn fool.

I have more self-doubt than any writer I've ever known.... The positive aspect of self-doubt - if you can channel it into useful activity instead of being paralyzed by it - is that by the time you reach the end of a novel, you know precisely why you made every decision in the narrative, the multiple purposes of every metaphor and image.

Books had shown me, however, that all people everywhere wanted their lives to have purpose and meaning. This longing was universal.

In this age, lies were the universal lubricant of the culture. A love of Truth and commitment to it were seldom rewarded and were often punished.

That was interesting, riding in the trunk," Milo said, "but I wouldn't want to do it again.

Reality isn't what it used to be.

The hands of every clock are shears, trimming us away scrap by scrap, and every time piece with a digital readout blinks us towards implosion.