“You never get cheered for telling people the situation is not as simple as they think.”

“science never cheered up anyone. the human situation is just too awful.”

“Get away from these two types of people: the ones who think you can only go as far as the situation you were born into; and the ones who think you can only go as far as the current situation you are in.”

“Our daily life in the auntring was repetitive. On the ship, later, I learned that people who live in artificially complicated situations call such a life 'simple.' I never knew anybody, anywhere I have been, who found life simple. I think a life or a time looks simple when you leave out the details, the way a planet looks smooth, from orbit.”

“A big part of wisdom is to learn which situations to get involved in, or not get involved in – it really is as simple as that.”

“I think sometimes people think cheerful is a synonym for dumb, so no one is ever cheerful.”