A LOT of people, young and otherwise--but especially those from, say, the mid-teens to mid-30s--become disillusioned when they get the sneakers with the lights in them, and they have the new avocado-colored Salad Shooter, and they have the jacket with Michael Jordan's picture on the back, and they realize that it's not enough. People wonder: What the hell? What's wrong here? What's missing? . . . What's missing is their connection to the universe.
--George Carlin, comedian, Free Inquiry (Summer 1999)

'WHAT ARE WE? What is being asked of us? What is the meaning of human brilliance, of human evil? Why is our consciousness a lens for all creation to pass through? Why do we have such intense intuitions of meaning and value, and yet so little success defining them or being guided by them? Self-awareness and self-questioning of that kind . . . precipitates a realization of the overwhelming beauty of existence . . . throwing everything into question.
--Marilynne Robinson, author, Wild Duck Review (Winter 1999)

'WHAT DO YOU THINK smokers would do if they didn't smoke? You get some pleasure from it, and you also get some other beneficial things, such as stress relief. Nobody knows what you'd turn to if you didn't smoke. Maybe you'd beat your wife. Maybe you'd drive cars fast. Who knows what the hell you'd do.'
--Geoffrey C. Bible, CEO of Philip Morris, Briarpatch (Nov. 1998)

'I SUPPOSE THERE IS AN ISSUE of personal taste and preference for particular types. The taste for lovemaking with a fat partner, whether by spontaneous inclination or cultivation, opens up a world of (apparently) unending delights. The special sensual allure, feel, texture, and fascination of a fat lover, together with the myriad physical possibilities unavailable to thinner types, makes for voluminous, voluptuous feasting.'
--Raphael Altman, on his fat wife of 31 years, Radiance (Summer 1999)