“Anything becomes less boring with googly eyes on it.”

“Each time a girl approached the table, Mortimer would smile. Like this: And each time the girl would shriek and run away.”

“Miranda rolls her eyes. "Passing over," she says. "That's nice. Is that anything like kicking the bucket? Keeling over, taking a dirt nap, biting the big one?”

“Jimmy rolled his eyes. 'What problems do you have? You have the perfect family. Your dad is perfect. Your brother and sister aren’t pestering you all the time. And your mom never screams at you for anything.''That’s only because she doesn’t know anything. 'He lifted an eyebrow and tilted his head toward his friend. 'It’s all in how you play your cards, young Padawan.”

“I understand why some dislike the idea, and fear the ramifications of, America as a liberator. But I do not understand why they do not see that anything is better than life with your face under the boot. And that any rescue of a people under the boot (be they Afghan, Kuwaiti or Iraqi) is something to be desired. Even if the rescue is less than perfectly realized. Even if the rescuer is a great, overmuscled, bossy, selfish oaf. Or would you, for yourself, choose the boot?”

“The way we consume information leads us to think less and less about more and more. We spend much of our time fixated on secondary questions (usually related to controversial and sensational issues) and very little time exploring the primary questions about our brief stay here on earth.”

“We become the books we read.”