Laughter may instruct but it may also conceal, defending the joker against anger and retaliation: a game is only a game.

Falling in love, although it resulted in altered body chemistry and was therefore real, was a hormonally induced delusional state, according to him. In addition it was humiliating, because it put you at a disadvantage, it gave the love object too much power. As for sex per se, it lacked both challenge and novelty, and was on the whole a deeply imperfect solution to the problem of intergenerational genetic transfer.

Most mothers worry when their daughters reach adolescence but I was the opposite. I relaxed, I sighed with relief. Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life sized.

As an artist your first loyalty is to your art. Unless this is the case, you're going to be a second-rate artist.

'1984' is not a wonder tale. Not only could it happen, but it has happened, but under different names.

Jimmy found himself wishing to make a dent in Crake, get a reaction; it was one of his weaknesses, to care what other people thought of him.

There is no fool like an educated fool.