“Perhaps it makes sense that a creature that doesn't get ill and has few enemies among its neighbors would also live agelessly and die without explanation or cause--would simply vanish without a trace.”

“The male doesn't eat - it doesn't even have a mouth or an anus - so it does nothing but mate until death.”

“Eternity can be found in the minuscule, in the place where earthworms, along with billions of unseen soil-dwelling microorganisms, engage in a complex and little-understood dance with the tangle of plant roots that make up their gardens, their cities.”

“People here had redwood trees in their backyards. You were never far from the infinite.”

“The rat population thrived in such a horrible mess. Ironically, cats were believed to be the consorts of witches in those days, so they were killed. Persecution of cats during the Middle Ages nearly eliminated populations of the rat's natural predator, just when Europeans could have used the cats' hunting skills the most.”

“Where would we be without the success of our mothers?”

“Someone like you makes it hard to live without somebody else”