“People who buy lottery tickets are not people who are going to send their kids to college.”

“Her skirts are long and don't seem to have straight hems, and her shirts are loose and hang over the skirts, so it's hard to see where one ends and the other begins. But with her children, she has clear control. They flow around her like her long skirts, flapping away and returning. Karen knows they will return to her side, like a magnet assured of its eternal attraction to tiny metal filings.”

“I went into geology because I like being outdoors, and because everybody in geology seemed, well, they all seemed like free spirits or renegades or something. You know, climbing mountains and hiking deserts and stuff.”

“People who say that money can't buy happiness just don't know where to shop.”

“Freedom does that to people, he realizes. Once you've tasted it, ou never want to let go.”

“LOTTERY TICKET: a voluntary tax paid by people who are extremely bad at math.”

“On having a backup plan: "Always a good plan anytime you want to follow your dream - I love writing, acting, and psychiatry - there are crazy people everywhere which means I can take my career anywhere my dream needs to go.”