Books

“Discovery, they believe, is inevitable. So they just try to do it first. That’s the game in science.”

“All year I wondered what would be left if you took the university out of this town, what was beneath the constant hum of classes and books and ideas, of introductions made by major first and name second, and now I know that what’s left behind is me but I don’t know what to do with that answer.”

“Perfection was a surface thing. The epidermis. Cut a few layers deep, you begin to see some darker shades. Cut to the bone—pitch black.”

“Were you always like this?’ ‘Like what?’ ‘A madman. With a time machine.’ ‘Oh, no. It took ages until I got the time machine.”