Private problems don't constitute an excuse for bad manners.

I've reached the age where anyone who lets me talk seems like an old By listening to my memories, you have become part of them.

People, alas, are more impressed by statistics than they are by ideas.

You have what is known as a lot of character, meaning you can be wrong at the top of your lungs.

The world of maps is nice and flat and simple. It has areas for people and areas for monsters. What a shock it is to discover the world is round and the areas merge and nothing separates the monsters and ourselves; that we are all whirling around in space together and there isn't even a graceful way of falling off.

Civilization has imposed countless restrictions and conventions on each of us, with the result that the subconscious in the majority of us has become a storage room without a key. We are forced to suppress or forget so many events and ideas and thoughts that those to which we should have access are lost in the welter. However, there are people who seem capable of unlocking this part of their minds and extracting relevant information.

When someone gives me three reasons instead of one, I'm inclined not to believe any of them.