Quotes from Steven Gould

tonsure—and wearing a dark blue

Most important thing to know about space-sickness bags? Keep them within reach at all times.)

I'd let her sell it to Dad. They tended not to contradict each other so if one of them had already said "yes" it usually meant "yes." If one of them said "no", ditto--which was why I'd asked Mom first.

Look, I tried to get a paper route instead, but the newspapers keep burning up on reentry.

You're not responsible for the evil others do," Dad said.

Money doesn't solve all problems, I thought. It just makes new ones.

Mom told me that. When someone is acting inappropriately, don't normalize it. Make it clear to everyone that you are not okay with the behavior.

Oh? Where?" "Africa." Davy winced. Second largest continent. Over a billion people. Fifty-six countries. You could overlay all of the U.S., China, India, and Europe on Africa's landmass.

There's nothing like a good cup of tea.

Operant conditioning. A reflexive response.

I thought, Or maybe drowning wasn't as scary as what they had to face every day.

There's nothing more infuriating than someone who wants to help.

I checked the warehouse, but he wasn't there, either.

Stay away from the government.

I'd always suspected that the Bill of Rights occasionally had a "liberal" interpretation.

Maybe we're luckier than ninety percent of the people on the planet, but no matter how expensive the shoe, it still pinches when it doesn't fit.

The separation was an act of will harder to overcome than mere distance.

He had no intention whatsoever of sleeping in that house. Why, people could probably drive right up to it!

Are you saying the INS should've taken the boat out of U.S. waters before sinking it?

Freon isn't poisonous, Dad." "No. But it will kill you dead, just the same.

What's the big deal—you've read it, haven't you?" Then he'd take them down to the used-book store and sell them for peanuts. He never got anything close to what they were worth. He didn't like them cluttering up the house, or even my room. They weren't going to get my books.

Unintended consequences.

Great,' I said. 'Visit exotic Australia. Get bitten by an exotic snake. Die exotically.

There is an abandonment, an escape, that physical labor bestows.