“No one gets to start where they left off; it just doesn't work that way.”

“Humor is a way of holding off how awful life can be, to protect yourself. Finally, you get just too tired, and the news is too awful, and humor doesn't work anymore.”

“Start where you left off; do not avoid the difficult parts”

“Starting a long way off the true point by loops and zigags, we now and then arrive just where we ought to be.”

“Oh, by the way, you left out one step in the plan.""What step was that?""The one where we pray this works, Admiral.”

“It doesn't have to be this way...Whatever else is lost, the knowledge isn't. Just because things get out of hand, just because things get smashed, just because everything comes apart, it doesn't mean that it always has to be that way, now and forever. Whether it's care that does it or sheer blind luck, things can work, things can grow, things can change and still stay together. If only they get enough chances, things can work out in the end. We're here, aren't we? In all our awesome complexity, we're here, even though we started out as nothing but ambitious dirt, nothing but clever clay. And in the end, one way or another, we'll find a way to get it all together, to make things work. That's life, May. That's what real life is all about.”