You must not forget that a monster is only a variation, and that to a monster the norm is monstrous.

People need responsibility. They resist assuming it, but they cannot get along without it.

When Kino had finished, Juana came back to the fire and ate her breakfast. They had spoken once, but there is not need for speech if it is only a habit anyway. Kino sighed with satisfaction - and that was conversation.

Boileau said that Kings, Gods and Heroes only were fit subjects for literature. The writer can only write about what he admires. Present-day kings aren't very inspiring, the gods are on a vacation and about the only heroes left are the scientists and the poor.

It has always been my private conviction that any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming.

Intentions, good or bad, are not enough. There's luck or fate or something else that takes over.

Man himself has become our greatest hazard and our only hope. So that today, St. John the apostle may well be paraphrased: In the end is the Word, and the Word is Man - and the Word is with Men.