“This pain is comfort. It is the solace of physicality, like a touch.”

“Doing nothing was as honourable as any available course of action. Think of Hamlet, think of Job, think of Jesus before Pilate.”

“Suffering is inevitable. It is part of the human condition. It is written in the human script.”

“I may not be free, but Im not about to surrender the illusion of choice.”

“The future is certain. It is just not known.”

“I stare out at the real world projected on the windows”

“if being is many, it must be both like and unlike, and this is impossible, for neither can the like be unlike, nor the unlike like”

“There is certainly no hope left of getting away. And it isn't even terrible; it's possibly funny, if even that. It's embarrassing. That's all. A little embarrassing to realize that I no longer cont...”

“thinking about tracking. . . . Sometime in grade school, already your fate was settled, your socialclass was established for the rest of your life.”

“Im aware of my actions and responsible for them, so I dont owe any explanation to anyone.”

“I think about how language works so I can best explain how language works.”

“He's a tourist. He takes pictures of people's lives, puts them in a scrapbook, and moves on. All he's interested in is stories. Basically Leslie, he's selfish. And you're not. That's why you don't ...”

“There has to be new words to explain new worlds.”

“People struggling with life in a fallen world often want explanations when what they really need is imagination.”

“In ancient times people weren't just male or female, but one of three types: male/male, male/female, or female/female. In other words, each person was made out of the components of two people. Ever...”