If we mammals don't get something to eat every day or two, our temperature drops, all our signs fall off, and we begin to starve. Living at biological red alert, it's not surprising how obsessed we are with food; I'm just amazed we don't pace and fret about it all the time.

... love is an act of sedition, a revolt against reason, an uprising in the body politic, a private mutiny.

Because IQ tests favor memory skills and logic, overlooking artistic creativity, insight, resiliency, emotional reserves, sensory gifts, and life experience, they can't really predict success, let alone satisfaction.

Which is crueler, an old man's lost memories of a life lived, or a young man's lost memories of the life he meant to live?

Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth.

Words are small shapes in the gorgeous chaos of the world. ... they bring the world into focus, they corral ideas, they hone thoughts, they paint watercolors of perception.

Tranquillity hides in small spaces, and when found needs to be treasured, because you know it's a phantom that will slip away again.