"My ace in the hole as a human being used to be my capacity for remembering birthdays. I worked at it. Whenever I made a new friend, I made a point of finding out his or her birthday early on, and I would record it in my Filofax calendar."

"I have no idea how to get in touch with anyone anymore. Everyone, it seems, has a home phone, a cell phone, a regular e-mail account, a Facebook account, a Twitter account, and a Web site. Some of them also have a Google Voice number. There are the sentimental few who still have fax machines."

"I went to a football school, which meant that I went to a university that served up education and was simultaneously operating a sports franchise."

"Every corny thing that's said about living with nature - being in harmony with the earth, feeling the cycle of the seasons - happens to be true."

"And when I was young, my family was perfectly nice. I write a lot about it, as you noticed. But it was rather limited. I think, I don't think anyone in my family would really feel I'd done them an injustice by saying that. We didn't see many people. There were many books. It was as if I wanted to get away from home."

"If we build superintelligence carefully, a mirror reflecting our own human biases, if we can align its goals with humanity."

"I didn't want to be one of those women who wake up at 63 years old and realize they've missed the window of opportunity for marriage and children."

"Prayer is a strong wall and fortress of the church; it is a goodly Christian weapon."