"He wasn’t as dumb as I thought, I realized—just not interested in the same things I was."

"The more rules you impose on a creative intelligence, of course, the fewer problems it can solve."

"Other people say that their parents are the same way whenever there’s bad news from whatever patch of dirt they came …"

"Mother had been talking in that bizarre way a lot lately; it sounded like the Olsen novels, “back when men were full …"

"You thought you could treat me the way you did everybody else and beat me up for being smarter than you. Because you’…"

"Writing about yourself is addictive. I hope all you kids noticed that. If you feel like autobiography, try heroin. Lo…"

"Finally I asked, “Um, Tom—are the uh, Alien Artifacts really art, or did you just say that to hassle Mother?” “They h…"

"Brains don’t exactly run in that family—they sort of dribble slowly away."

"You can’t really win an argument against somebody’s feeling that something is just plain wrong."

"Papa always says there’s room for everyone, but some people certainly take theirs up without making it interesting."