“Extreme violence has a way of preventing us from seeing the interests it serves.”

“One way to prevent yourself from going through a considerable amount of useless pain is to see the truth of the following and then to act upon your discovery accordingly: judging others doesn't change how much they disturb you; it serves only to distract you from seeing just how little it actually takes to set you off.”

“Thwart: to prevent someone from accomplishing something by means of visiting gratuitous violence upon his smarmy person.”

“The inherent prejudice in unnaturally-produced nationalism causes a form of cultural blindness, which prevents us from seeing the obvious ways we could co-exist in the world as a co-operative human family.”

“True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing.”

“People have obsessions and fears and passions which they don't admit to. I think every character is interesting and has extremes. It's the novelist privilege to see how odd everyone is.”