Badass Heart

“Over many centuries science has weakened the hold of religion, not by disproving the existence of God, but by invalidating arguments for God based on what we observe in the natural world.

The multiverse idea offers an explanation of why we find ourselves in a universe favorable to life that does not rely on the benevolence of a creator, and so if correct will leave still less support for religion.”
― Alan Lightman, The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew

“Public libraries in the United States outnumber McDonald’s; they outnumber retail bookstores two to one.”
― Susan Orlean, The Library Book

“In Senegal, the polite expression for saying someone died is to say his or her library has burned.”
― Susan Orlean, The Library Book

“if something you learn or observe or imagine can be set down and saved, and if you can see your life reflected in previous lives, and can imagine it reflected in subsequent ones, you can begin to discover order and harmony. You know that you are a part of a larger story that has shape and purpose—a tangible, familiar past and a constantly refreshed future. We are all whispering in a tin can on a string, but we are heard, so we whisper the message into the next tin can and the next string.”
― Susan Orlean, The Library Book