Young men of my type are prone to be impatient of details, and give their loyalties without regard to evidence.

It's hard to have faith in your fellow man when you're forced to look at some of his handiwork.

He isn't stupid, but his interests are so narrow I doubt I could slip a sheet of paper in between them

Legends about predictions are common throughout the Human Family. Gods speak, spirits speak, computers speak.

how easy human frailties could thrive under the cover of idealism

That's the problem with wishes, they ensnare you. In fairy tales they're nothing but trouble, magnifying the greed and vanity of the person for whom they are granted.

My big trouble is, I always sort of think whoever I'm necking is a pretty intelligent person. It hasn't got a goddam thing to do with it, but I keep thinking it anyway.

The same as most prayers, the bulk of what you hear is complaints and demands. Help me. Hear me. Lead me. Forgive me.

"The real shit {that was Mo’s mantra} is pigeons, not their shit. Divorce is when you take away what you no longer need from those you no longer love."

All war is fratricide, and there is therefore an infinite chain of blame that winds its circuitous route back and forth across the path and under the feet of every people and every nation, so that a...

There is a force of persuasion in the scent, stronger than that of words, glances, feelings, and will. It cannot be rejected, it penetrates our lungs like the air we breathe, it overflows within us,...

Perhaps thee will best understand what Abigail is like if I tell thee that when she quilts she prefers to stitch in the ditch, hiding her poor stitches in the seams between the blocks.

How quickly compassion invades noble hearts!

Well it is said that neither love nor power Admit a rival, even for an hour.

"... I hid myself between two leaves of sorrel, and there discharged the necessities of nature."

That of dealing death, of loosing another man's soul and sending it down to hell. You want to savor it, to twist the blade deeper and pull the man's heart and guts out upon the iron point of your...

He was wondering if there was some cryptic, cultish mark on his door that told all the crazy people he'd have trouble saying no.

he's always been moody. Even when he was a baby he was like a cat. All snuggly one second and then the next, he'd be looking at you like he had no idea who you were.

He exuded ambiguities she decided, that was his fascination. His mouth spoke; his eyes said something other: his smile belied everything... He played with the language of the Circle of Days like a...

You know, when I was in Paris, seeing Linter for the first time, I was standing at the top of some steps in the courtyard where Linter's place was, and I looked across it and there was a little notice...

{...} she understood that nothing is less obvious in a man than that which seems unquestionable.

Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.

Particularly nauseous were the blank expressionless faces of people in trains and omnibuses; they seemed no more my fellow-creatures than dead bodies would be, so that I did not dare to travel unless...

Oh, people get used to so many things," said Vadesh, "if only they give them selves a chance.

On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.