“profanity and obscenity entitle people who don't want unpleasant information to close their ears and eyes to you.”

“What is the purpose of life?...To be the eyes and ears and conscience of the Creator of the Universe, you fool!”

“Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it. If you could just persuade people of this, but they insist on amassing information.”

“Harry closed his eyes. He never wanted to open them again. His heart sent this message to his molecules: "For reasons obvious to all of us, this galaxy is dissolved!”

“Just because you can read, write and do a little math, doesn't mean that you're entitled to conquer the universe.”

“I got a letter from a sappy woman a while back - she knew I was sappy too, which is to say a lifelong Democrat. She was pregnant, and she wanted to know if I thought it was a mistake to bring a little baby into a world as troubled as this one is. And I replied, what made being alive almost worthwhile for me was the saints I met. They could be almost anywhere. By saints I meant people who behaved decently and honorably in societies which were so often obscene. Perhaps many of us here, regardless of our ages or power or wealth, can be saints for her child to meet.”

“I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.”