A science fiction writer should try to combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic.

There is no indisputable proof for the big bang," said Hollus. "And there is none for evolution. And yet you accept those. Why hold the question of whether there is a creator to a higher standard?

How do you define God? Like this. A God I could understand, at least potentially, was infinitely more interesting and relevant than one that defied comprehension.

If theft is advantageous to everyone who succeeds at it, and adultery is a good strategy, at least for males, for increasing presence in the gene pool, why do we feel they are wrong? Shouldn't the only morality that evolution produces be the kind Bill Clinton had - being sorry you got caught?

No one disputes that seeming order can come out of the application of simple rules. But who wrote the rules?

Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace.

It is either coincidence piled on top of coincidence," said Hollus, "or it is deliberate design.