Some of us still get all weepy when we think about the Gaia Hypothesis, the idea that earth is a read more

Some of us still get all weepy when we think about the Gaia Hypothesis, the idea that earth is a big furry goddess-creature who resembles everybody's mom in that she knows what's best for us. But if you look at the historical record -- Krakatoa, Mt. Vesuvius, Hurricane Charley, poison ivy, and so forth down the ages -- you have to ask yourself: Whose side is she on, anyway?

Keep doing good deeds long enough, and you'll probably turn out a good man in spite of yourself.

Keep doing good deeds long enough, and you'll probably turn out a good man in spite of yourself.

Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve

Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve

Conscience is our magnetic compass; reason our chart.

Conscience is our magnetic compass; reason our chart.

If I could remember the names of all these particles, I'd be a botanist.

If I could remember the names of all these particles, I'd be a botanist.

Analysis brings no curative powers in its train; it merely makes us conscious of the existence of an evil, which, read more

Analysis brings no curative powers in its train; it merely makes us conscious of the existence of an evil, which, oddly enough, is consciousness.

Given that external reality is a fiction, the writer's role is almost superfluous. He does not need to invent the read more

Given that external reality is a fiction, the writer's role is almost superfluous. He does not need to invent the fiction because it is already there.

Death is the tyrant of the imagination.

Death is the tyrant of the imagination.

There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old read more

There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book.