Past and present religious atrocities have occured not because we are evil, but because it is a fact of nature that the human species is, biologicall… - Christopher Hitchens

Evolution has meant that our prefrontal lobes are too small, our adrenal glands are too big, and our reproductive organs apparently designed by committee; a recipe which, alone or in combination, is very certain to lead to some unhappiness and disorder.

I'm very happy by myself — I'm lucky in that way — if I've got enough to read and something to write about and a bit of alcohol for me to add an edge, not to dull it.

...those who say I am being punished are saying that god can't think of anything more vengeful than cancer for a heavy smoker.

But gallows humor is inseparable from dentistry: at one point I heard the good doctor say, as he plowed through the layers of plaque and tartar, “Good news. I’ve found some of your teeth.”