“Fundamental to Jimmy’s style was the presumption that the border between legal and illegal was a question of convenience rather than morality. The unforgivable offense was to be boring or colorless...”

“To feel our character, our personality, and our personal, hard-won history fade from being is to be exposed to whatever lies beneath these comforting, operational conveniences. What remains when the conscious and functioning self has been erased is mankind's fundamental condition – irrational, violent, guilt-wracked, despairing, and mad.”

“Everything smaller than Heaven bores us because only Heaven is bigger than our hearts.”

“In contrast, the a/theistic approach can be seen as a form of disbelieving what one believes, or rather, believing in God while remaining dubious concerning what one believes about God (a distinction that fundamentalism is unable to maintain).”

“Michael wondered what the legal ramifications were for strangling a knight of the realm. Surely nothing he couldn‟t live with.”

“What part of his being hunched over a sheaf of papers was sointeresting to her? Because that was all he had been doing all week.Perhaps he ought to liven up the spectacle. Really, it would be the kind thing to do. She had tobe bored silly.He could jump on his desk and sing.Take a bite of food and pretend to choke. What would she do, then?Now that would be an interesting moral dilemma.”

“Arts and disciplines of that kind are fundamentally selfish; they’re all designed to benefit the pupil—not the world - "Ishmael”