In fact, the idea of a God who is both all-powerful and all good is a logical impossibility.

A hint of - dare I say? - animism has entered into the scientific worldview. The physical world is no longer either dead or passively obedient to the "laws.

That's what "meaning" is—a special additive like salt or garlic that could make even the most fetid piece of meat seem palpable, even delicious.

Why "revere" the unknowable? Why not find out what it is?

If this was mental illness, or even just a particularly clinical case of adolescence, I was bearing up pretty well.

Too bad for any parent who has become accustomed to ruling by force, because at some point the kids just get too big to slap around.

The universe does not reveal itself to undergraduates or fools: This is the entire premise of higher education.

The Ten Commandments, for example, were no more challenging than the Girl Scout oath, and why should anyone be tempted to put one false god ahead of another?

I understood that no one could have lobbed such a stinging wad of shame out into the world without having a considerable personal reserve of it to draw on.

I know having a job can sometimes be very challenging, but not having one can be too.

We must tell the world that even though we elected a bigot, bigotry will not prevail.

You won't get cooperation out of a hierarchical system. You get enforced directions from the top, and nothing I know of can run like that.

Everyone we love builds a home in our heart. And when they are gone we spend eternity staring at their empty seat.

I've always been really good with my heels. Even pregnant, I could perform in heels.

See, it's no in between: you're either free or you're a slave.

What is done is done; and the cracked egg cannot be cured.

Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of. Quick: try to think of a single movie about the horrors of Stalinism. This is not a failure of imagination. This is moral meltdown.

And indeed there will be time To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?" Time to turn back and descend the stair, With a bald spot in the middle of my hair.

Life is nothing but a bet that in the end everyone is doomed to lose. So you'd better get used!