However alert we are, antiquity remains an unknown, unanticipated galaxy.

[O]ver the years I travelled to another universe. However alert we are, however much we think we know what will happen, antiquity remains an unknown, unanticipated galaxy. It is alien, and old people are a separate form of life. They have green skin, with two heads that sprout antennae. They can be pleasant, they can be annoying--in the supermarket, these old ladies won't get out of my way--but most important they are permanently other. When we turn eighty, we understand that we are extraterrestrial. If we forget for a moment that we are old, we are reminded when we try to stand up, or when we encounter someone young, who appears to observe green skin, extra heads, and protuberances.

From the human side, the level of alert [in Hong Kong] remains the same.

All we know is still infinitely less than all that remains unknown.

How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?

After a century of studying schizophrenia, the cause of the disorder remains unknown.