“If it is stupid but it works, it isn't stupid. (a Shin'a'in saying)”

“To treat a person like a carpet, it is necessary that one do the walking, and one allow himself to be walked on.--Shin'a'in saying”

“He isn't stupid, but his interests are so narrow I doubt I could slip a sheet of paper in between them”

“It isn't wise to be rude to one's mother. She knows everything about your childhood that is potentially embarassing.”

“First commandment: there ain't no such thing as "one true way" and the way you find is only good for you, not anybody else, because your interpretation of what you see and feel and understand as the truth is never going to be the same as anyone else's.Second commandment: the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself.Third commandment: leave the world better than you found it.Fourth commandment: if it isn't true, going to do some good, or spread a little love around, don't say it, do it, or think it.Fifth commandment: there are only three things worth living for; love in all it's manifestations, freedom, and the chance to keep humanity going a little while longer. They're the same things worth dying for. And if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race.”

“The gods gave you a brain, boy,' he'd say. 'If you want to honor them, use it.”

“One day,' Orest said, looking at him comically, 'you will say something that is less than practical and sensible, something that is driven by no forethought and nothing but passion, and I will probably collapse with shock.”