Maggie Shipstead's prose is so graceful and muscular, so dazzling, so sure-handed and fearless, that at times I had to remind myself to breathe. Astonish Me is a treasure of small surprises.

I got a huge knot in my stomach because if Antarctica could talk, it would be saying only one thing: you don't belong here. (277)

The sooner you learn it's on you to make life interesting, the better off you'll be.

I think because I try to keep things as real as I can, or I try to start from a place of reality, I almost don't have the imagination to write a book that's not set where I am.

This is why you must love life: one day you're offering up your social security number to the Russian Mafia; two weeks later you're using the word calve as a verb.

I'm not too good when exposed to people

Maybe that’s what religion is, hurling yourself off a cliff and trusting that something bigger will take care of you and carry you to the right place.

I'd say I never considered myself a great architect. I'm more of a creative problem solver with good taste and a soft spot for logistical nightmares.

Your mission statement says Galer Street is based on global "connectitude." (You people don't just think outside the box, you think outside the dictionary!)

My strength as a TV writer was my total lack of interest in television.

Anything I write I ask myself: Is it true, is it entertaining?

The point is, it didn’t really matter what the book was about. It was what it meant that was important.

Science literacy is being plugged into the forces that power the universe. There is no excuse for thinking that the Sun, which is a million times the size of Earth, orbits Earth.

The one thing I need to leave behind is good memories.

Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism the way you play it is free will.

That’s right, I’m crazy. But, I don’t ever want to go back to being of sound mind again. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to. Because as crazy as I may get, I only have eyes for Ju Yoo Rin.

There must be some point, at which the lawyer's own personal and social morality will rebel against his traditional allegiance to his client.

I've been around a long time, and life still has a whole lot of surprises for me.

How can a motion picture reflect real life when it is made by people who are living artificial lives?

The people who test your patience are a blessing.. Without them, you can't practice patience.

Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust? And, live we how we can, yet die we must.