Sometimes there is no darker place than our thoughts, the moonless midnight of the mind.

I always enjoyed the kids, but I didn't enjoy the bureaucracy of the educational system.

I am my own worst enemy. This, more than any other trait, proves my fundamental humanity.

Or maybe they were just doing it for fun. A lark. Their religion is tolerant of extreme forms of recreation. Boys will be boys, after all, and sociopathic boys will be sociopathic.

There is nothing fatherly about time and what it does to us, either.

All I asked was that I be spared surprises, although, in this world of six billion souls, all acting with free will and too many with audacity, surprises are inevitable, too few of them are the kind that make you smile and that lift your heart.

I'm no more a wonder than anyone. And that's what makes the world magical. Every baby's a seed of wonder - that gets watered or it doesn't.