“I often wonder what I'd do if there weren't any books in the world.”

“And I wonder if there is really any point to what I'm doing, or what I'm supposed to make of a world where a man can get rich playing "let's pretend”

“I wonder what [Obama's] record would be like so far if he weren't such a fierce advocate for gay rights?”

“Now he had answers, but they weren't doing what answers were supposed to do: they weren't making things simpler or easier. They weren't helping.”

“Life is short and often stingy; feast the heart with what it craves, short of cruelty, and let the world wonder.”

“What does it matter? Science has achieved some wonderful things, of course, but I'd far rather be happy than right any day.”

“I would hate to think I am not an amateur. An amateur is one who loves what he is doing. Very often, I'm afraid, the professional hates what he is doing. So, I'd rather be an amateur.”

“There weren't any curtains in the windows, and the books that didn't fit into the bookshelf lay piled on the floor like a bunch of intellectual refugees.”

“I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren't in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets.”

“As I examine my life through this book, I can't help but wonder if my mother was right. Maybe I really was what I ate. And maybe if she'd let me eat a little more sugar, I'd have come out sweeter.”