Discovery, they believe, is inevitable. So they just try to do it first. That's the game in science.

People were so naive about plants, Ellie thought. They just chose plants for appearance, as they would choose a picture for the wall. It never occurred to them that plants were actually living things, busily performing all the living functions of respiration, ingestion, excretion, reproduction---and defense.

Reality is always greater - much greater - than what we know, than whatever we can say about it.

The academic world was marching toward ever more specialized knowledge, expressed in ever more dense jargon.

The best doctors found a middle position where they were neither overwhelmed by their feelings nor estranged from them. That was the most difficult position of all, and the precise balance - neither too detached nor too caring - was something few learned.

Life is wonderful. It's a gift to be alive, to see the sun and breathe the air. And there isn't really anything else.

Like all trial attorneys, he knew the importance of not dressing too well.