“A big advantage of the serial-number approach to identity is that things stay the same even as they change.”

“The hard thing about death is that nothing ever changes. The hard thing about life is that nothing stays the same.”

“I stay focused on details
It keeps me from feeling the big things
But watch the microscope long enough
Things that seem still are still changing”

“The serial number of a human specimen is the face, that accidental and unrepeatable combination of features. It reflects neither character nor soul, nor what we call the self. The face is only the serial number of a specimen”

“You hate change. I hate it too. But things can't stay the same- and that's well, for when nothing changes in your life, it's as good as being dead”

“It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed, is you.”

“Everything changes in my life, and the world stays the same.”

“All the same we take our chances,
Laughed at by time, tricked by circumstances,
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose,
The more that things change, the more they stay the same.
-- Circumstances (1978)”

“For anyone who feels our of place in the land of small dogs the only thing left is to become a big dog, and the only advantage in being a big dog is that one is not then ashamed of dying. Not even a big dog can help feeling shamed of living, a big dog least of all.”

“How weird that must be, to stay the same as everyone else changes.”