"I want to raise every voice At least I got to try Every time I think about it Water rises to my eyes Situation desperate Echoes of the victims cry If I had a rocket launcher If I had a rocket launcher If I had a rocket launcher Some son of a bitch would die"

"Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight you got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight"

"If this were the last night of the world What would I do What would I do that was different Unless it was champagne with you..."

"Had another dream about the lions at the door They were not half as frightening as they were before But I'm thinking about eternity Some kind'a ecstasy's got a hold on me Walls, windows, trees, waves coming through You be in me I'll be in you Together in eternity Some kind'a ecstasy's got a hold on me Up among the firs where it smells so sweet Or down in the valley were the river used to be I got my mind on eternity Some kind'a ecstasy's got a hold on me, and I'm Wondering where the lions are and I'm Wondering where the lions are..."

"Catching the light and falling into dark And the world fades out like an overheard remark... In the falling dark"

"Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by?"

"These fragile bodies of touch and taste This vibrant skin, this hair like lace Spirits open to the thrust of grace Never a breath you can afford to waste, when you're Lovers in a dangerous time Lovers in a dangerous time..."

"All the diamonds in this world That mean anything to me Are conjured up by wind and sunlight sparkling on the sea I ran aground in a harbor town Lost the taste for being free Thank God he sent some gull chased ship To carry me to sea..."

"“And of me you ask which choice you should make?” said the translator’s voice. “Yes,” I said. There was the sound of rocks grinding, followed by a brief silence, and then: “The moral choice is obvious,” said the Wreed. “It always is.” “And?” I said. “What is the moral choice?” More sounds of rocks, then: “Morality cannot be handed down from an external source.” ... “It must come from within.” “You’re not going to tell me, are you?” The Wreed wavered and vanished."

"I guess what it means is this: to be human is to be fragile. We are easily hurt, and not just physically. We are easily hurt emotionally, too. So, as you move through life, my son, try not to hurt others."

"I believe the creator may have a specific reason for wanting a universe that has life in it, and, indeed, as you say, for wanting multiple sentiences to emerge simultaneously. But it seems clear beyond dispute that the creator takes no interest in specific individuals."

"Sagan may not have believed in the God of the Bible, but he at least allowed the possibility of a creator. Or did he? Carl was no more obliged to believe what he wrote in his sole work of fiction than George Lucas was required to believe in the Force."

"Must God be defined in a way that places him or her beyond the scope of science? I’d always believed that there was nothing beyond the scope of science. And I still believe that. Where do you draw the line? Right here. For me, the answer was right here. How do you define God? Like this. A God I could understand, at least potentially, was infinitely more interesting and relevant than one that defied comprehension."

"Not wanting to die was another universal constant, it seemed."

"You’re right to be skeptical—the world would be a better place if we were all a little less credulous."

"I did learn one valuable lesson, though. I learned that you can’t choose the ways in which you’ll be tested."

"The fundamental of war has always been dehumanizing the enemy, seeing him as a soulless animal."

"“Well, that can happen. Memories can be implanted, even just through suggestion and constant repetition. And if a therapist augments that with hypnosis, really unshakable false memories can be created.” “But why on earth would a therapist do that?” Heather looked grim. “To quote an old Psych Department joke, there are many routes to mental health, but none so lucrative as Freudian analysis.”"

"He who foresees calamities suffers them twice over."

"Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace."

"“Children play with toy soldiers,” said Keith, looking now at Jag. “Child races play with real ones. Maybe it’s time all of us grew up a bit.”"

"“But you get along with humans now, which is something my people are having trouble managing. How do you do it?” Longbottle barked, “Accept their weaknesses, welcome their strengths.” Jag was silent."

"There was a small crucifix above the door to his room; it had been there since he’d been a little boy. He stared up at the tiny Jesus—but there was no point in praying. The die was cast; what was done was done."

"Throwing some light on the subject had only made the mystery deeper."

"“Good luck—and God protect.” I was sure that little reference to God was for the sake of the network cameras. Ching-Mei was an atheist. She only had faith in empirical data, in experimental results."

"It turned out that big-bucks science had been a purely mid-twentieth-century phenomenon, starting with the Manhattan Project and ending with the fall of the Soviet Union."

"Jag barked dismissively. “Philosophy,” he said. “Not science. They just want to believe that.”"

"...but there, because there is no grace of God, go I."

"As one of my Jewish friends has been known to observe, the Jews who survived World War II were either now atheists or hadn’t been paying attention."

"Adjectives modify nouns, adverbs modify verbs, advertisers modify the truth."

"“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” I shook my head. “Have you ever noticed how many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities come at the end of a person’s life? Count me out.”"

"Failing to act is a decision in and of itself."

"“God,” he said under his breath. “All the gods,” replied Jag, softly, “are a very, very long way from here.”"

"You are spoiled by being a sociologist, Lansing. In the hard sciences, we occasionally have to face the reality that some of our theories will actually be disproven."

"“What arrogant fools we are!” said Jag. “Don’t you see?” To this day, despite all the humbling lessons the universe has already taught us, we still try to retain a central role in creation. We devise theories of cosmology that say the universe was destined to give rise to us, that it had to evolve life like us. Humans call it the anthropic principle, my people called it the aj-Waldahudigralt principle, but it’s all the same thing: the desperate, deep-rooted need to believe that we are significant, that we’re important."

"It had to begin somewhere—maturity, the stage after the midlife crisis, peace. It had to begin somewhere."

"He cursed himself for thinking anything this complex would end up not being a source of problems."

"“‘Justice,’” he said, his breath coming out raggedly as he quoted another Nobel laureate—at that precise moment, he couldn’t remember which one—“‘is always delayed and finally done only by mistake.’”"

"“Cheetah is an APE,” said Kyle. “You know, a computer simulation the apes humanity.” “I really do find the use of the term ‘ape’ offensive,” said Cheetah. Kyle smiled. “See? Genuine-sounding indignation. I programmed that myself. It’s the first thing you need in a university environment: the ability to take offense at any slight, real or imagined.”"

"Kyle was both deeply great and deeply flawed—peaks and valleys, more and less than she’d ever thought he was. But, she realized, whatever he was now, she could accept it; the fit between them wasn’t ideal, and probably never would be. But she knew in her heart that it was better than it could be with anyone else. And perhaps acknowledging that was as good a definition of love as any."

"And Canadians didn’t like guns, either—they had no Second Amendment, or whatever damned thing it was that made Americans think they could go around armed."

"Free will is an illusion. It is synonymous with incomplete perception."

"There may be oodles of possible humans, but it is a finite number."

"You humans seem to have a profound capacity for ignoring obvious evidence."

"Nothing is anything unless it is something. In other words, a concept without material reality is meaningless."

"“There are two opposing forces—the high mind and the low—but they reside in our brains, not various parts of our bodies. The high mind contains the conscious, the understood, the learned—that of which we are aware. The low mind consists of instincts and base impulses, of drives; it’s the province of the subconscious. The struggle between high and low mind produces the personality.” “But surely the high mind is who we really are,” said Afsan. “No. The high mind may represent who we want to be, or who the church says we should be, but we are just as much our low minds as we are our high; the low mind shapes our behavior, too.”"

"The Lord works in mysterious ways. Mrs. Lansbury had always said that. Everything happens for a purpose. Such bull. Such unmitigated crap. I felt my stomach knotting. Cancer didn’t happen for any purpose. It tore people apart; if a god did create life, then he’s a shoddy workman, churning out flawed, self-destructing products."

"Still, you must know that the fear of death is irrational; death comes to everyone."

"The sad truth, Afsan, is that often what we intend has little to do with what we achieve."

"“We cannot be afraid to look.” “But some things are best left unknown,” she said. “Nothing is best left unknown,” said Toroca. “Nothing.”"