There's a stark difference between the words 'prodigy' and 'genius.' Prodigies can very quickly learn what other people have already figured out; geniuses discover that which no one has ever previously discovered. Prodigies learn; geniuses do.

How are the eyes?' 'Oh, excellent,' he said. 'I mean, they're not in my head is the only problem.

He let his mind wander. It went to a predictable place, and he missed her

So why don't you go home for vacations?' I asked her. I'm just scared of ghosts, Pudge. And home is full of them.

We do an epically bad job of acknowledging one another's work and checking our sources.

Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.

I like this world. I like drinking champagne. I like not smoking. I like Dutch people speaking Dutch.