“I pray for meaning. I pray for the limits of reality to become clear. For a world – and a type of being – that makes sense. I pray for a life after death that is not like this life. I pray for the end of mystery. What would a life be like with all the mysteries solved? If there were no questions, there’d be no stories. If there were no stories, there’d be no language. If there was no language there’d be no . . . What?”

“I wonder at what point my life swerved to avoid that, and if that life would have been nicer than the one I've got.”

“O, you have torn my life all to pieces... made me be what I prayed you in pity not to make me be again!”

“I don't pray because it makes sense to pray. I pray because my life doesn't make sense without prayer.”

“People make events into stories. Stories give events meaning.”

“I realised that when someone plays hard to get, they are making themselves into a character in a story, and they choose the story that leads to the outcome they want.”

“Most people would look at an animal in a cage and instinctively feel that it should be set free. . . . It's a dangerous world out there, filled with predators. . . . What would you prefer? A comfortable, safe, warm, cosy life in a cage, or an uncertain life of freedom.”