“Friendships are nice. So is competence.”

“One reason abortion remained illegal was because it was so safe.”

“I do so think well of a man who dies with finesse.”

“Discovery, they believe, is inevitable. So they just try to do it first. That's the game in science.”

“We think we know what we are doing. We have always thought so.”

“Human beings are so destructive. I sometimes think we're a kind of plague, that will scrub the earth clean. We destroy things so well that I sometimes think, maybe that's our function. Maybe every few eons, some animal comes along that kills off the rest of the world, clears the decks, and lets evolution proceed to its next phase.”

“Sneaking up on it sometimes helps: I’ve found I can be very productive for an hour before dinner, because there obviously isn’t enough time to really do anything, so I can tell myself I’m just screwing around.”