Pardon me for breathing, which I never do any way so I don’t know why I bother to say it, oh God, I’m so depressed.

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

He had a tremendous propensity for getting lost when driving. This was largely because of his method of “Zen” navigation, which was simply to find any car that looked as if it knew where it was going and follow it. The results were more often surprising than successful, but he felt it was worth it for the sake of the few occasions when it was both.

The available worlds looked pretty grim. They had little to offer him because he had little to offer them. He had been extremely chastened to realize that although he originally came from a world which had cars and computers and ballet and Armagnac, he didn't, by himself, know how any of it worked. He couldn't do it. Left to his own devices he couldn't build a toaster. He could just about make a sandwich and that was it.

The mere thought hadn't even begun to speculate about the merest possibility of crossing my mind.

I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day.

For as long as he could remember, he’d suffered from a vague nagging feeling of being not all there.