I got done writing Ports of Call and suddenly realized I have far too much material for the book.

Happiness is fugitive; dissatisfaction and boredom are real.

Beauty compelled admiration and erotic yearning; such was its organic function. But never by itself could it command love.

But, for instance, when I was awfully young, I read all the Oz books. They were an enormous influence on me.

The universe is eight billion years old, the last two billion of which have produced intelligent life. During this time not one hour of absolute equity has prevailed.

Right now I'm so old that if I had a big gush of money, I don't know what I'd do with it. I don't travel anymore. I don't need anything, don't want anything. I'd give it to my son, I guess, and let him enjoy it.

You used the word "civilization", which means a set of abstractions, symbols, conventions. Experience tends to be vicarious; emotions are predigested and electrical; ideas become more real than things.