"In engineering, experience gained is directly proportional to the amount of equipment ruined."

"“So that’s that,” Miriam said. “We have a plan.” “You have a shared delusion,” I said."

"We all project our petty lives upon the universe."

"The secret of a Scientist is not what he knows. It’s what he asks."

"The essential condition for life is the existence of sharp energy gradients."

"“Hunger,” Hollerbach said. “The universal imperative.”"

"Self-doubt is part of being human...but the main thing is to get on with the business of survival."

"But you are a scientist, Michael Poole; and the skill of a scientist is in asking the right question."

"It’s all a bit anarchic, I suppose, but it’s also highly effective. Flexible, responsive, mobile, heuristic, with int…"

"From the air Illinois was a vast emptiness studded by lost-looking little towns."