It depends on your specific conception of God, because belief can equally well leave you with this constant sense that you're coming up short and you're being judged and you're not doing quite the perfect thing. You know, I was brought up very religiously, and I never totally lost that sense, you know, that I'm screwing up.

Uncertainty is inevitable at the frontiers of knowledge.

Never has good weather felt so bad. Never have flowers inspired so much fear. Never has the warm caress of a sunbeam seemed so ominous. The weather is sublime, it's glorious, it's the end of the world.

There is nothing scarier than a mediocre man with a mission.

Most geniuses are just talented people who get up really early in the morning.

Girls were nice to me in the same way that they would be nice to a hamster. I fantasized about wild encounters with females but knew they'd never happen unless my own involvement could somehow go undetected.

Characters last. Beautiful writing lasts. A compelling narrative lasts. Art survives long after ideas go extinct.