“that once people decided what they thought of you, that was it. You'd been judged. You got a stamp on your forehead that you could never wash off.”

“Imagine what you'd do if it absolutely didn't matter what people thought of you. Got it? Good. Never go back.”

“You can't always judge people by the things they done. You got to judge them by what they are doing now.”

“Even if you did drop into someone's consciousness, you'd have all their memories and desires and hang-ups right there in front of you. And as you say, in an eternity you'd get the chance to know everything once enough time had passed. You'd become unable to judge anyone.' 'You'd end up being completely compassionate,' I said. 'You wouldn't be able to judge someone once you understood them and their motivations. You'd become them, like Rowan said, and so it would be like judging yourself.”

“Follow your inclination. It will take you to the thoughts you'd never known you'd had.”

“How could I have been so ignorant? she thinks. So stupid, so unseeing, so given over to carelessness. But without such ignorance, such carelessness, how could we live? If you knew what was going to happen, if you knew everything that was going to happen next—if you knew in advance the consequences of your own actions—you'd be doomed. You'd be as ruined as God. You'd be a stone. You'd never eat or drink or laugh or get out of bed in the morning. You'd never love anyone, ever again. You'd never dare to.”