A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.

What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.

Busy, busy, busy, is what we Bokononists whisper whenever we think of how complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is.

In real life, as in Grand Opera, arias only make hopeless situations worse.