One

I said to my father that I did not believe you could die of a laugh and he looked over at me and said, “Poor daughter, you can die of nearly anything.”

Maybe it was okay to have some outsized faith in yourself.

A special proof of scientific as distinguished from aesthetic interest is to care for the hidden and insignificant.

Rufus’s compass-like eyes were lolling and loose, barely able to focus

David describes the sensation of speaking the names out loud, those Latin declarations of victory, mastery.

Even the dullest slug or dandelion could offer spiritual and moral guidance to those humans curious enough to look.

t was the work of deciphering God’s plan, the meaning of life, and possibly even the path to building a better society.

Refuge. It smelled like cinnamon and its walls were made of bad puns and cheap rhymes, piling higher and higher against the chill of the world.

Happiness comes from doing, helping, working, loving, fighting, conquering

There is no hope for you unless this bit of sod under your feet is the sweetest to you in this world—in any world