“The most damaging deficit with which poor and minority children must cope is their deficit of hope.”

“9. Leave an ethereal reminder of your presence. A skull will do.”

“You: A canny observer in a white suit and a fine cravat. The Culture: Just waiting for someone to explain it to itself.”

“Pamuk has given voice to nearly every society in the world torn between the longing to be global and to be itself.”

“Two weeks ago, I ordered a bowl of chili. The counterman nods. “So when are you gonna review Google Wave?”

“That little drawing, ‘The Au charbonnage café’ is really nothing special, but I couldn’t help making it.”

“His doctor told him a bump on his shoulder was a rare tumor: ‘If you have a rare tumor, you need to go where tumors are not rare.’”

“President Barack Obama holds up a T-shirt given to him by an MIT Mechanical Engineering Professor.”

“Having a total stranger compliment my book was a rare case of what blurbing should be in the best of all worlds.”

“The paradigm has shifted, the worm has turned. Eric has given up the ghost and is no longer with us.”