“If written in the three-letter words of the four-letter alphabet,a human being is determined by a genetic narrative long enough to fill the equivalent of 500 Bibles.In the meantime human beings have discovered this for themselves. That's right. They have uncovered our profoundest concept -- namely, that life is ultimately reading. They themselves are the Book of Books.”

“You could try and understand people, you could read books and understand words and concepts and ideas, but you could never understand enough or have enough knowledge to keep away the surprises that both fate and human beings had in store.”

“Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves.”

“Genes are biochemical recipes written in a four-letter alphabet called DNA.”

“How could an alphabet—letters that didn't even mean anything by themselves—be important?But it was important. Our stories, our names, our alphabet. Even Uncle's newspaper.It was all about words.If words weren't important, they wouldn't try so hard to take them away.”

“In old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody.”