Cockroach: What is war?
Man: How we lost the human race.

Most parents are so convinced of their little darling’s innocence that, by proxy, in rallying for junior’s purity they come to believe in their own innocence—as if duplicating oneself will make a right!

Those who do not preach life but live it do not smile to the lily near the bank; they look for stones and hang on.

The genes supply the motivation for warfare, [E. O.] Wilson is saying, in humans as they do in chimps, but people, blessed with the power of language, look for some objective cause of war. A society psychs itself up to go to war by agreeing that their neighbors have wronged them, whether by seizing property or failing to deliver on some promise. Religious leaders confirm that the local deity favors their cause and off go the troops.

There may be deep thought, but deep people don’t exist. Our bodies must float on the surface, otherwise we drown.

The hermit is he who needs a friend, and in the absence of a community has befriended himself.