“If you have a dog, you will most likely outlive it; to get a dog is to open yourself to profound joy and, prospectively, to equally profound sadness.”

“All profound distraction opens certain doors. You have to allow yourself to be distracted when you are unable to concentrate.”

“A strange thing happens when you interview a robot. You feel an urge to be profound: to ask profound questions. I suppose it’s an inter-species thing. Although if it is I wonder why I never try and be profound around my dog.‘What does electricity taste like?’ I ask.‘Like a planet around a star,’ Bina48 replies.Which is either extraordinary or meaningless - I’m not sure which”

“Gratitude keeps your heart open. When you give with an open heart, you get the profound gift of humility.”

“The most profound joy has more of gravity than of gaiety in it.”

“A man’s life was five dogs long, Cortland believed. The first was the one that taught you. The second was the one you taught. The third and fourth were the ones you worked. The last was the one that outlived you. That was the winter dog. Cortland’s winter dog had no name. He thought of it only as the scarecrow dog…”