The reason we form networks is because the benefits of a connected life outweigh the costs. It's to our advantage as individuals and a species to assemble ourselves in this fashion.

It used to be thought that our genes were historically immutable and that it was not possible to imagine a conversation between culture and genetics.

It is well to look around at whom, and not just what, surrounds us. Population structure will change everything. Our health, wealth, and peace depend on it.

Everyday interactions we have with other people are definitely contagious, in terms of happiness.

What constrains or enables the capacity of human beings to work in groups is not so much the technology, but rather the capacity of the human brain to have and monitor social interactions.

We cannot understand our humanity just by studying individuals.

I like to have met someone in real life before being their Facebook friend.

It's fashionable to speak about vulnerable populations in medicine and public policy, but it's harder to find a more vulnerable population than those who are dying.

People have just assumed that... if we call our Facebook acquaintances our friends, we must be influenced by them, too. But we're not.

My entire youth was spent with an incredibly ill parent... I don't think you can grow up that way and not be marked by that experience.

Social networks are these intricate things of beauty, and they're so elaborate and so complex and so ubiquitous that one has to ask what purpose they serve.

Hope is what keeps the soul alive.

Think about what you are thinking about. Be aware of your own thoughts!

Every criminal would be an artist if he had the talent, and every artist would become a criminal if he had the guts.

The curse of true love never did run smooth.

One must be frank to be relevant.

I'm a pretty big P.J. Harvey record fan and you can really hear New York in his record

Whatever’s inside making me what I am, it’s like film. Film only works in the dark. Tear it all open and let in the light and you kill it.

The squeaky wheel doesn't always get greased; it often gets replaced.

Nature takes no account of even the most reasonable of human excuses.

The most important question facing the planet is: Is it worth it?