ABOYNE (vb.) To beat an expert at a game of skill by playing so appallingly that none of his clever tactics or strategies are of any use to him.

Dirk was, for one of the few times in a life of exuberantly prolific loquacity, wordless.

One always overcompensates for disabilities. I'm thinking of having my entire body surgically removed.

Dennis Hutch had stepped up into the top seat when its founder had died of a lethal overdose of brick wall, taken while under the influence of a Ferrari and a bottle of tequila.

The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination.

Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things

He spent a lot of time flying. He learnt to communicate with birds and discovered that their conversation was fantastically boring. It was all to do with wind speed, wing spans, power-to-weight ratios and a fair bit about berries. Unfortunately, he discovered, once you have learnt birdspeak you quickly come to realize that the air is full of it the whole time, just inane bird chatter. There is no getting away from it.