Anyone unable to understand how useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either.

And we all vied, in saving face, to be the greatest student of human nature, the person with the quickest sense of humor.

The chief weapon of sea pirates, however, was their capacity to astonish. Nobody else could believe, until it was too late, how heartless and greedy they were.

If God were alive today, He'd be an atheist.

The most damning revelation you can make about yourself is that you do not know what is interesting and what is not.

In the middle of Siberia I guess there's a lake that big [ like the Great Lakes], but there are practically no other lakes that big with fresh water.

One [television] program was an interminable exploration of the question: can a woman with a low I.Q. be happily married to a man with a high one? The answer seemed to be yes and no.