Mostly I sit at home in the evenings watching the box and hoping that one day I'll evolve into plankton.

I don't read the Sunday papers; or the dailies, either

Human beings can get used to virtually anything, given plenty of time and no choice in the matter whatsoever.

There is that within a man that drives him ever onwards, just as the power of the seasons drives the roots of flowers into the hard earth; and so he decided, against his better judgment, to open his eyes and find out what was going to happen to him next.

After all, what else is scientific enquiry of any sort other than a controlled version of banging one's head against the universe until something gives?

At any given time, ninety-nine-point-nine-five per cent of the human race are a confounded nuisance

Not only had he lost the only girl he'd ever loved, he'd lost her in duplicate, like some heartbroken but highly efficient civil servant.