“They're just words is all. Powerless. Vocabulary. Dialogue.”

“Everywhere, words are mixing. Words and lyrics and dialogue are mixing in a soup that could trigger a chain reaction. Maybe acts of God are justthe right combination of media junk thrown out into the air. The wrong words collide and call up an earthquake. The way rain dances called storms,the right combination of words might call down tornadoes. Too many advertising jingles commingling could be behind global warming. Too manytelevision reruns bouncing around might cause hurricanes. Cancer. AIDS.”

“People will listen to you only when they know you're dying, otherwise they're just waiting for their turn to talk.”

“This isn't about guilt or innocence, he says. The dinosaurs weren't morally good or bad, but they're all dead.”

“you're a product just as much. a product of a product. the people who design cars, they're products, your teachers, products. the minister in your church, another product.”

“The muffled thunder of dialogue comes through the walls, then a chorus of laughter. Then more thunder. Most of the laugh tracks on television were recorded in the early 1950s. These days, most of the people you hear laughing are dead.”

“And maybe men say they're glad not to give birth, all the pain and blood, but really that's just so much sour grapes. For sure, men can't do anything near as incredible. Upper body strength, abstract thought, phalluses—any advantages men appear to have are pretty token.You can't even hammer a nail with a phallus.”