History, as I recall, was never this winsome, and especially not this clean, but the real thing would never sell: most people prefer a past in which nothing smells.

You quickly find, when you are a hand-reader as I am, that nothing interests people so much as themselves.

Optimism means better than reality; pessimism means worse than reality. I'm a realist.

One good maxim to keep in mind, and I can't remember who said it, "You meet the same people on the way down that you meet on the way up, but you're going the other way."

What breaks in daybreak? Is it the night? Is it the sun, cracked in two by the horizon like an egg, spilling out light?

I am not your justification for existence.

If you want what's in the package you should at least know how to get the string off, is what I say.