Quotations

But these manoeuvrings to avoid
The touching of hands,
These shifts to keep the eyes employed
On objects more or less neutral
(As honour, for the time being, commands)
Will hardly prevent their downfall.

The Bushmen, who walk immense distances across the Kalahari, have no idea of the soul's survival in another world. 'When we die, we die,' they say. 'The wind blows away our footprints, and that is the end of us.'

In the cavernous interior of the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, there are ranks of gambling machines lined up like gaudy soldiers on parade, each one to a common design, though subtly different. They invite you to make a close inspection.

Carbon lies at the centre of life, its ubiquitous and indispensable ingredient. Carbon atoms link together in chains, and bind with other atoms, to make the whole array of organic chemicals that constitute life itself, from DNA to toenails.

In war the strong make slaves of the weak, and in peace the rich make slaves of the poor. We must work to live, and they give us such mean wages that we die.

The Earth was born from debris that circled the nascent Sun. It was a planet spun from dust and rock, and one of the smaller masses that were trapped in the thrall of the Sun's attraction.

To the as-yet unborn, to all innocent wisps of undifferentiated nothingness: Watch out for life.