There was nothing like shared meals, so the experts at IBM claimed, for overcoming one's basic disbelief in the existence of other people. - Thomas M. Disch

The way we work, the way we talk, the way we watch television or walk down the street, even the way we fuck, or maybe that especially—each of those is part of the problem of identity. We can’t do any of those things authentically until we find out who we really are and be that person, inside and out, instead of the person other people want us to be. Usually those other people, if they want us to be something we aren’t, are using us as a laboratory for working out their own identity problems.

The gods, after all, are only human, and once their rage has been placated they are perfectly capable of acts of mercy and grace.

He especially liked ads for shampoos and hair coloring. The women in them seemed to regard their hair as independent, capricious entities, whom they must placate and provide with food.