“Imitating someone is the mediocre way of getting humanity back to what we evolved from.”

“The quickest way to kill the human spirit is to ask someone to do mediocre work.”

“I think human beings have evolved to appreciate narrative, in the same way that we have evolved to learn language. What is narrative, after all, but a kind of super-language, where stories, like words, are ways of encapsulating information?”

“In adverse circumstances, every creature becomes something else, evolving or devolving. What makes us human is that we know what we once were, and, let us hope, we remember how to change back.”

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”

“He's back! He's back!""Who's back?" shouted someone else. "Who is it?""What does it mean? What should we do?""Are we on fire?""Get up and run, damn it! Everybody get up and run!”