Even though he was afraid to admit it, when he was with her it seemed it was worth doing all those normal things that normal people do.

Choices are made in brief seconds and paid for in the time that remains

People took what they wanted, they clutched at coincidences, the few there were, and made a life from them. . . . Choices are made in brief seconds and paid for in the time that remains.

She hadn't chosen him over all the others. The truth was that she hadn't even thought about anyone else.

The love of those we don't love in return settles on the surface and from there quickly evaporates.

Feeling special is the worst kind of cage a person can build for himself.

Why did you choose to stay here?" (...) "I don't know," he said. "It's as if there's more oxygen here.

Mattia's voice no longer stirred anything in his stomach, but he was aware of the idea of him and always would be, as the only true benchmark for everything that had come afterward.

...finally her hands, so light, holding his head still and catching all his thoughts and imprisoning them there, in the space that no longer existed between them.

Mattia thought that he and Alice were like that, twin primes, alone and lost, close but not close enough to really touch each other.

Separating them were two layers of brick, a few inches of plaster, and nine years of silence.

Find your own joy within and then greater joy will be added to you.

I don't go long without eating. I never starve myself: I grab a healthy snack.

I've always liked women. But I don't want somebody who likes me because I'm famous. I like girls who are intelligent and who are kind of quiet like me.

The nature of things betrays itself more readily under the vexations of art than in its natural freedom.

If Trump takes an aggressive anti-Iranian stand, I suspect it will complicate his relations with Russia; how much so, depends on what else Trump does, particularly about participation in NATO.

Reliable scientific knowledge is value free and has no moral or ethical value. Science tells us how the world is. ... Dangers and ethical issue arise only when science is applied as technology.

We must have order, allocating to each thing its proper place and giving to each thing is due according to its nature.

Change the voices in your head. Make them like you instead.

Happiness springs from doing good and helping others.

It's harder to make something good when you can't curse all the time.