“I learned that it is possible to make conversation with anyone, if you figure out what they wish to discuss.”

“It is often asserted that discussion is only possible between people who have a common language and accept common basic assumptions. I think that this is a mistake. All that is needed is a readiness to learn from one's partner in the discussion, which includes a genuine wish to understand what he intends to say. If this readiness is there, the discussion will be the more fruitful the more the partner's backgrounds differ.”

“I wish you couldn't figure me out, but you'd always want to know what I was about”

“Be kind. It's worthwhile to make an effort to learn about other people and figure out what you might have in common with them.”

“Why didn't you tell me to take Attolia's advice from the beginning?""I thought you should figure it out. What you learn for yourself, you will know forever," said Eugenides."Pol used to say that," said Sounis, surprised."I learned it from him. I just wish to my god that I had his patience for the process.”

“Learning science is not just learning facts, or even procedures. Science is a discourse-a way of conversing-with an epistemological frame:how to we know? Why do we think so?And I tell that that, yes, you can do this by yourself-have a conversation-but you have to learn to do it first. And its' much easier to learn to do it with a peer rather than an instructor. With an instructor you expect them to "know" the answer and, even if they won't give it to you directly, you expect them to be right. In a science dialog none of you "know" what's right. You're all trying to figure it out.”