Quote collection
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"Because we grew up surrounded by big dramatic story arcs in books and movies, we think our lives are supposed to be filled with huge ups and downs. So people pretend there is drama where there is none."
"We'd been apart so long--I'd been dead so long," she said in English. "I thought surely you'd built a new life, with no room in it for me. I'd hoped that." "My life is nothing but room for you." I said. "It could never be filled by anyone but you."
"A first grader should understand that her or his culture isn't a rational invention; that there are thousands of other cultures and they all work pretty well; that all cultures function on faith rather than truth; that there are lots of alternatives to our own society...Cultural relativity is defensible, attractive. It's a source of hope. It means we don't have to continue this way if we don't like it."
"Most writers are not quick-witted when they talk. Novelists, in particular, drag themselves around in society like gut-shot bears."
"Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne."
"Everything is nothing, with a twist."
"Doesn't anything socialistic make you want to throw up? Like great public schools, or health insurance for all?"
"Evolution is so creative. That's how we got giraffes."
"You meet saints everywhere. They can be anywhere. They are people behaving decently in an indecent society."
"I can think of no more stirring symbol of man's humanity to man than a fire engine."
"'You hate America, don't you?' 'That would be as silly as loving it,' I said. 'It's impossible for me to get emotional about it, because real estate doesn't interest me. It's no doubt a great flaw in my personality, but I can't think in terms of boundaries. Those imaginary lines are as unreal to me as elves and pixies. I can't believe that they mark the end or the beginning of anything of real concern to a human soul. Virtues and vices, pleasures and pains cross boundaries at will.'"
"What war has always been is a puberty ceremony."
"Science is magic that works."
"Smoking is the only honorable form of suicide."
"Dear future generations: Please accept our apologies. We were rolling drunk on petroleum."
"Nietzsche had a little one-liner on how to choose a wife. He said, ''Are you willing to have a conversation with this woman for the next forty years?'' That's how to pick a wife."
"I still catch myself feeling sad about things that don’t matter anymore."
"Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why."
"Having a yacht is a reason for being more cheerful than most."
"Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place."