“Biography, like any other scholarly activity is not only about selection but also then about forming what one selects.”

“Islam is about selection, not election.”

“Of the prisoners captured a selection was made from the slaves and other spoils, “in order to detach the usual one-fifth share of the State. The number of the selected slaves came to about 20,000. The rest were distributed among the troops.””

“That’s what human relationships are about – selective sharing and hiding of information to the point of crazy confusion.”

“That's what fiction is about, isn't it, the selective transforming of reality? The twisting of it to bring out its essence?”

“We're developing a new citizenry. One that will be very selective about cereals and automobiles, but won't be able to think.”

“It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept.”

“Here we are after a couple million years of natural selection has produced a race that overpopulates and makes war and dominates and rapes, and you want to know about wisdom! Natural selection doesn’t select for wisdom!”

“Protoplasm is protean; any simple protoplasm can become any complex form of life under mutation and selection.”

“Literature, like memory, selects only the vivid patches.”