“It is significant comment on the victory of science over magic that we...” — Cyril Connolly Quote

“It is significant comment on the victory of science over magic that were someone to say ‘if I put this pill in your beer it will explode,’ we might believe them; but were they to cry ‘if I pronounce this spell over your beer it will go flat,’ we should remain incredulous and Paracelsus, the Alchemists, Aleister Crowley and all the Magi have lived in vain. Yet when I read science I turn magical; when I study magic, scientific.”

“The more books we read, the clearer it becomes that the true function of a writer is to produce a masterpiece and that no other task is of any consequence.”

“All charming people have something to conceal, usually their total dependence on the appreciation of others.”

“When we have ceased to love the stench of the human animal, either in others or in ourselves, then are we condemned to misery, and clear thinking can begin.”

“A lazy person, whatever the talents with which he set out, will have condemned himself to second-hand thoughts and to second-rate friends.”

“When you get down to the bottom of it, only about half of what we remember really happened. We tend to modify things to make ourselves look better in our own eyes and in the eyes of others. Then, if what we did wasn't really very admirable, we tend to forget that it ever happened. A normal human being's grasp on reality is very tenuous at best. Our imaginary lives are usually much nicer.”

“We need a life-centric understanding of truth, not truth-centric understanding of life.”

“Father Nicholas Steno, is often identified as the father of geology.”

“When children earn stickers or candies by working as a team, they withhold their goodies from children who didn't help but share with children who did. This might not seem very friendly—it might even seem like behavior you should correct: sharing is caring after all—but from an evolutionary standpoint, it's mission critical.”

“Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value the may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder.”