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The tragedy of the gifted is the belief they are entitled to greatness, Lysander. As a human, you are entitled only to death.

The philosopher Descartes believed that he had found the most fundamental truth when he made his famous statement: “I think, therefore I am.” He had, in fact, given expression to the most basic error: to equate thinking with Being and identity with thinking.

The very thing that gives you pleasure today will give you pain tomorrow, or it will leave you, so its absence will give you pain. p. 24

The past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation. ... Both are illusions.

"You know the curse of this world?" I ask, looking at the body the Carver made for me. "The greatest gifts were given to the worst of us."

"Not realizing they are gifts is what makes them the worst," he replies.

Don't you find it peculiar? The human conviction that we are the heirs of history instead of paragraphs that are almost over. A survival mechanism, no doubt.

The greater part of human pain is unnecessary. It is self created as long as the unobserved mind runs your life.

What devious designs freedom requires. One must worry about the strength of a principle when it must compromise itself so often to survive.

Death is a stripping away of all that is not you. The secret of life is to "die before you die" - and find that there is no death. p. 34

The mind in itself is not dysfunctional. It is a wonderful tool. Dysfunction sets in when you seek your self in it and mistake it for who you are. p. 35

I think, as with all things, honor is best appreciated in moderation. As is cruelty.

Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within. p. 24