“The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be.”

“As his body became more and more defenseless, so his means of offense became steadily more frightful.”

“A wise man once said that all human activity is a form of play. And the highest form of play is the search for Truth, Beauty and Love. What more is needed? Should there be a ‘meaning’ as well, that will be a bonus? If we waste time looking for life’s meaning, we may have no time to live — or to play.”

“And because, in all the Galaxy, they had found nothing more precious than Mind, they encouraged its dawning everywhere. They became farmers in the fields of stars; they sowed, and sometimes they reaped. And sometimes, dispassionately, they had to weed.”

“Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: (1) It's completely impossible. (2) It's possible, but it's not worth doing. (3) I said it was a good idea all along.”

“What was more, they had taken the first step toward genuine friendship. They had exchanged vulnerabilities.”

“Few artists thrive in solitude and nothing is more stimulating than the conflict of minds with similar interests.”