“You need to be willing to wipe the slate clean and admit that you may not know everything about running. This is the best advice I can give for staying injury-free”

“The truth is that running in shoes is high impact, heel-centric, promotes bad form, is relatively unstable and inflexible, tends to weaken rather than strengthen your feet, and dampens your connection to the world around you. In contrast, barefoot running is low-impact, toe-centric, promotes good form, enhances stability and adaptability, strengthens your feet in miraculous ways, and provides delightful sensory and spiritual connections to the earth.”

“According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, in 2006, one out of six people or 43.1 million Americans suffered foot ailments. Among cultures that don’t wear shoes, approximately 2 percent of the population has foot-related injuries, compared to 70 percent among shoe-wearing societies.”

“There’s nothing in the mechanical world that matches the sophistication, complexity, and multi-tasking ability of the foot”

“I think one of the prophets stuttered when he dictated your specs,” Jal said, snickering. “Or the gene-splicer was daydreaming about his high-status trueborn love and he botched your programming.”

“My nurture mother never would have reset me. And I was never a kit. Or a ‘female.’ I might be a non-human, but I’m not an animal. I’m a girl.”

“There's a lot youdon't know, Sam. There's a lot I don't tell you. I know who I am. I know what I do, and what I am to this place.I know what I am to you, and how much you depend on me.You may be the symbol, and you may be the one everyone turns to when something goes bad, and you're the big badass, but I'm the guy doing the day-in, day-out work of running things. So I don't make this about me.”