"Books are a portable kind of time travel. We go back as well as forward when we read them. When we come back into the now, after being immersed in worlds previously unknown to us, we find ourselves, transformed. Touched by their magic, nothing we ever perceived beforehand remains quite the same."

"To notice is to select, toregard some bits of perception, or some features of the world, as morenoteworthy, more significant, than others. To these we attend, and therest we ignore—for which reason conscious attention is at the same time ignorance despite the fact that it gives us a vividlyclear picture of whatever we choose to notice."

"A geek isn't the skinny kid with a pocket protector and acne. There can be computer geeks, video game geeks, car geeks, military geeks, and sports geeks. Being a geek just means that you're passionate about something."

"I am not a great fan of computers. I do watch videos and analyse which batsman is playing how. Batsmen can play different shots on different days. A batsman may not play cover drives well, but if he connects with two such shots, he starts playing the drive well on that day."

"Men,' she said rueful, 'are the most absurd creatures on this green earth.' 'But there are camels,' Gabriel pointed out. 'Believe me,' she answered. 'I've taken camels into consideration."

"The Specters feast as vampires feast on blood, but the Specters’ food is attention. A conscious and informed interest in the world. The immaturity of children is less attractive to them."

"I point out to you, Marcus Claire Luyseyal, a lesson from past over-machined societies which you appear not to have learned. The devices themselves condition theusers to employ each other the way they employ machines."