Guilt was the grease in which the wheels of the authority turned.

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

Mort was already aware that love made you feel hot and cold and cruel and weak, but he hadn't realized that it could make you stupid.

The conflict is not between Christianity and Islam or between East and West - instead, it is between stupid people and other stupid people.

He'd noticed that sex bore some resemblance to cookery: it fascinated people, they sometimes bought books full of complicated recipes and interesting pictures, and sometimes when they were really hungry they created vast banquets in their imagination - but at the end of the day they'd settle quite happily for egg and chips. If it was well done and maybe had a slice of tomato.

Imagination is only intelligence having fun. A healthy mind knows how to switch between worlds, and which one you need to eat and sleep in.

No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away.