“We need to enter the conversation willing to be wrong, willing to admit the limits of our own knowledge, willing to reconsider our evidence, sources, and premises. That is self-skepticism.”

“I learned without her saying a word that there are truly many ways to pray, and lighting a candle is one of them.”

“Pure data. You don’t believe data—you test data.” He grimaced. “If I could put my finger on the moment we genuinely fucked ourselves, it was the moment we decided that data was something you could use words like believe or disbelieve around.”

“You find peace in the confinement of silence.”

“The witch is the ultimate feminist icon because she is a fully rounded symbol of female oppression and liberation.”

“I feel as if I’m on the moon listening to the air hiss out of my spacesuit, and I can’t find the hole. I’m the vice president of panic, and the president is missing.”

“We can only cope with the dangers of language if we recognize that language is by nature magical and therefore highly dangerous.”

“The best gift that you can give to your favourite person is to lead him or her to God.”