“I understand the mechanism of my own thinking. I know precisely how I know, and my understanding is recursive. I understand the infinite regress of this self-knowing, not by proceeding step by step...”

“The prospect of living without interference, living in a world where windfalls and misfortunes were never by design, held no terror for him.”

“My message to you is this: pretend that you have free will. It's essential that you behave as if your decisions matter, even though you know they don't. The reality isn't important: what's importan...”

“At the base of the immense pillar, tiny Babylon was in shadow. Then the darkness climbed the tower, like a canopy unfurling upward. It moved slowly enough that Hillalum felt he could count the mome...”

“When you watch Olympic athletes in competition, does your self-esteem plummet? Of course not. On the contrary, you feel wonder and admiration; you're inspired that such exceptional individuals exis...”

“He tells people that they can no more expect justice in the afterlife than in the mortal plane, but he doesn't do this to dissuade them from worshipping God; on the contrary, he encourages them to ...”

“From a pound of iron, that costs little, a thousand watch-springs can be made, whose value becomes prodigious. The pound you have received from the Lord,--use it faithfully.”

“You have my whole heart. You always did.”

“They had, finally, the only thing anyone really wants in life: someone to hold your hand when you die.”

“She shook off the self-recrimination. What-ifs and could-have-beens were not the way to move forward. She knew that from experience.”

“When your bright future, becomes a dull regret of the past, take a deep breath and move on.”

“Sooner or later we've all got to let go of our past.”

“No. Ye loved him. I canna hold it against either of you that ye mourn him. And it gives me some comfort to know ..." He hesitated, and I reached up to smooth the rumpled hair off his face."To know ...”

“In his arms Ive finally found the place Ive been looking for, where fear cant touch me, where memories cant reach, where the past is forgotten and the present is enough. Where the present is, in fa...”

“Our relationship with the world can only be better when we know ourselves well!”