The universe is biased toward consciousness because the universe wants to be noticed. It's a way into existential hope that doesn't have too much cliché wrapped around it.

I could stand up and go to her and kiss her. I could. But there is still too much to be ruined.

I shaved this morning for precisely that reason. I was like, 'Well, you never know when someone is going to clamp down on your calf and try to suck out the snake poison.

standing in line is a form of oppression

I find it really offensive when people say that the emotional experiences of teenagers are less real or less important than those of adults. I am an adult, and I used to be a teenager, and so I can tell you with some authority that my feelings then were as real as my feelings are now.

The urge to make art or contemplate philosophy does not go away when you are sick. Those urges just become transfigured by illness.

I said nothing—I hadn’t known Marya, and anyway, “listening quietly” was my general social strategy