I need you to be clever, Bean. I need you to think of solutions to problems we haven't seen yet. I want you to try things that no one has ever tried because they're absolutely stupid.

The criminal misuse of time was pointing out the mistakes. Catching them―noticing them―that was essential. If you did not in your own mind distinguish between useful and erroneous information, then you were not learning at all, you were merely replacing ignorance with false belief, which was no improvement. The part of the man's statement that was true, however, was about the uselessness of speaking up. If I know that the teacher is wrong, and say nothing, then I remain the only one who knows, and that gives me an advantage over those who believe the teacher.

The only people who think children are carefree are the ones who've forgotten their own childhood.

I want to be the kind of boy you are, thought Bean. But I don’t want to go through what you’ve been through to get there.

I'm right here. This is who I really am. I'm not pretending.

The only process you've mastered is the process of elimination, and the only reason you've mastered that is because you can do it in the toilet.

I hope I am remembered by my children as a good father.