“Genealogies are admirable things, provided they do not encourage the curious delusion that some families are older than others.”

“This curious world we inhabit is more wonderful than convenient; more beautiful than it is useful; it is more to be admired and enjoyed than used.”

“Right now, we say in a traditional home one parent stays home with the children and the other provides the financial support for that family. That is the acceptable and right thing to do. If we begin to expand that, not only do we dilute the resources that are available, we begin to dilute things like health care, retirement, all the things offered to families that help them be a family.”

“Curious that we spend more time congratulating people who have succeeded than encouraging people who have not.”

“Admiral Smyth says that no family is quite civilized unless it possesses a copy of some encyclopaedia and a telescope.”

“the figures contained in the Genesis genealogies provided by simple addition a chronology from the beginning of the world up to later stages in the biblical story”

“Most people choose movies that provide exactly what they expect, and tell them things they already know. Others are more curious. We are put on this planet only once, and to limit ourselves to the familiar is a crime against our minds.”

“...there are more things to admire in men than to despise.”

“Don't forget that some things count more than other things.”

“There is a curious thing that happens with the passage of time: a calcification of character… Change isn't always for the worst; the shell that forms around a piece of sand looks to some people like an irritation, and to others, like a pearl.”