Naturally, since [the Sumerians] didn't know what caused the flood anymore than we do, they blamed the gods. (That's the advantage of religion. You're never short an explanation for anything.)

When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.

It was childish to feel disappointed, but childishness comes almost as naturally to a man as to a child.

Theories are not so much wrong as incomplete

Night will always be a time of fear and insecurity, and the heart will sink with the sun.

... you just can't differentiate between a robot and the very best of humans.

The appearance of strength is all about you. It would seem to last forever. However... the rotten tree-trunk, until the very moment when the storm-blast breaks it in two, has all the appearance of might it ever had. The storm-blast whistles through the branches of the Empire even now. Listen... and you will hear the creaking.