“Good advice is a wise man's friend, of course; but sometimes it just flies on past, and all you can do is wave. ”

“You can embark on new and steeper versions of your old sins, you know, and cry tears while doing it that are genuine as any.”

“Is there a single person on whom I can press belief?No sir.All I can do is say, Here's how it went. Here's what I saw.I've been there and am going back.Make of it what you will.”

“Once traveling, it's remarkable how quickly faith erodes. It starts to look like something else - ignorance, for example...Sure it's weak, but sometimes you'd rather just have a map.”

“Real miracles bother people, like strange sudden pains unknown in medical literature. It's true: They rebut every rule all we good citizens take comfort in. Lazarus obeying orders and climbing up out of the grave - now there's a miracle, and you can bet it upset a lot of folks who were standing around at the time. When a person dies, the earth is generally unwilling to cough him back up. A miracle contradicts the will of the earth.”

“From my first breath in this world, all I wanted was a good set of lungs and air to fill them with... p 1”

“I breathe deeply, and certainty enters into me like light, like a piece of science, and curious music seems to hum inside my fingers.Is there a single person on whom I can press belief?No sir.All I can do is say, Here’s how it went. Here’s what I saw.I’ve been there and am going back.Make of it what you will.”