He said you couldn't pretend the terrible things in life didn't happen. You can't clean it up. You keep all the refuse and the scars. It's how you learn. And try to make improvements.

Funnily enough, it is the subject one dreads talking about at length one ends up talking about at length, often without the slightest provocation.

What, really, was the difference between something hounding you and something leading you somewhere?

There was quantum mechanics, string theory, and then there was the most mind-bending frontier of the natural world, women.

I was aware now, as ever, that between all people there were First Times You See Them and Last Times you See Them.

But when you flee someone, no matter how far you roam, that person will follow you as doggedly as the stars.

...the deepest secrets about ourselves that we, in the ultimate act of humanity, will spare those we truly love.