That smile could end wars and cure cancer.

I just want the pleasure of noticing these things at a safe distance.

I think if you keep the box closed long enough you do kill the cat, actually.

I love being in cities with lots of other people, because I'm reminded that there are billions of people like me, and we are each stuck inside of our minds, feverishly trying to crawl out to make connections with other people.

Half-drunk on well-creamed gas station coffee and the exhilarating loneliness of a freeway in nighttime.

In the end, I had to call myself a faggot, which really annoyed me, because 1. I don't think that word should ever be used by anyone, let alone me, and 2. As it happens, I am not gay, and furthermore, 3. Chuck Parson made it out like calling yourself a faggot was the ultimate humiliation, even though there's nothing at all embarrassing about being gay.

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