“The very names we use to describe ancient ideas or vanished forms of social organization would be quite meaningless if we had not known living men.”

“But history is neither watchmaking nor cabinet construction. It is an endeavor toward better understanding.”

“Thenceforth they thought that, rationally concluded, doubt could become an instrument of knowledge.”

“Magic--that's just a label, you know. Completely meaningless. It wasn't so very long ago that people were saying that electricity was magic.”

“Lacking a shared language, emotions are perhaps our most effective means of cross-species communication. We can share our emotions, we can understand the language of feelings, and that's why we form deep and enduring social bonds with many other beings. Emotions are the glue that binds.”

“Funny how we take it for granted that we know all there is to know about another person, just because we see them frequently or because of some strong emotional tie.”

“One advantage of static factory methods is that, unlike constructors, they have names.”