“I challenge you to find a more innocuous sentence containing the words...” — Mary Roach Quote

“I challenge you to find a more innocuous sentence containing the words sperm, suction, swallow, and any homophone of seaman. And then call me up on the homophone and read it to me.”

“My husband recently made me try on a bikini. A bikini is not so much a garment as a cloth-based reminder that your parts have been migrating all these years. My waist, I realized that day in the dressing room, has completely disappeared beneath my rib cage, which now rests directly on my hips. I'm exhibiting continental drift in reverse.”

“It’s possible that the reason I've never experienced a ghostly presence is that my temporal lobes aren't wired for it. It could well be that the main difference between skeptics (Susan Blackmore notwithstanding) and believers is the neural structure they were born with. But the question still remains: Are these people whose EMF-influenced brains alert them to “presences” picking up something real that the rest of us can’t pick up, or are they hallucinating? Here again, we must end with the Big Shrug, a statue of which is being erected on the lawn outside my office.”

“When you buy my books, you kind of know what you're in for. It's kind of self-selecting. If you have a delicate sensibility, and you're easily grossed out, you probably will never read one of my books.”

“Everybody is going to die, so people are enthralled by the possibility that they don't have to completely die, that there is something that comes afterward. It's like if you're going to France for the summer, you're going to read up on it. Everyone just wants to know where they're going, or if they're going anywhere.”

“The truth is not only do appearances never reveal what lies beneath them of their own accord, but also, generally speaking, they never just reveal; they also conceal. No thing, no side of a thing shows itself except by actively hiding the others. They expose and they also protect from exposure and as far as what lies beneath is concerned, this protection may even be their most important function. This is true for living things, whose surface hides and protects the inner organs that are their source of life.”

“For once reality and his brains came into contact and the result was fatal.”

“Science fiction I've always been a fan of.”

“F=sm² ( Fascist Equals Stupid Moron Squared)”

“Biology is the science. Evolution is the concept that makes biology unique.”

“It's like how science fiction in the '50s was a way of talking about war without actually having to risk any political capital. The obvious metaphor is power and powerlessness, but I also think it's a way of experimenting with dangerous feelings in a safe arena and trying things out.”