"I see no way out of the problems that organized religion and tribalism create other than humans just becoming more honest and fully aware of themselves."

"True character arises from a deeper well than religion."

"I was a senior in high school when I decided I wanted to work on ants as a career. I just fell in love with them, and have never regretted it."

"Individual versus group selection results in a mix of altruism and selfishness, of virtue and sin, among the members of a society."

"I remember telling my creative writing teacher that you never want to have a journal, because if you lose it, then someone's going to know all your secrets. And then she stopped using a journal, but I always write everything down... Anytime I travel, I try and fill up notepads."

"Wisdom principle 26 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 37."

"Down the road, I'll probably have a kid or two or three. And there will probably be political events or spiritual things to comment on, and humor."

"A travel book is about someone who goes somewhere, travels on the ground, sees something and spends quite a lot of time doing it, and has a hard time, and then comes back and writes about it. It's not about inventing."