Happiness is not the natural state of mankind, and is never achieved from the outside in.

You have to start out learning to believe the little lies. "So we can believe the big ones?" Yes. Justice, mercy, duty. That sort of thing.

There isn't a way things should be. There's just what happens, and what we do.

Just because someone's a member of an ethnic minority doesn't mean they're not a nasty small-minded little jerk [...]

Do you think it's possible for an entire nation to be insane?

Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can.

Cats don't hunt seals. They would if they knew what they were and where to find them. But they don't, so that's all right.