Blessed are the idiots, for they are happiest people on earth.

- Barry Hughart

'Immortality is only for the gods,' he whispered. 'I wonder how they can stand it.'

- Barry Hughart

The emotional health of a village depended upon having a man whom everyone loved to hate, and Heaven had blessed us with two of them.

- Barry Hughart

Error can point the way to truth, while empty-headedness can only lead to more empty-headedness or to a career in politics.

- Barry Hughart

Don't be ashamed of reliving your childhood, Ox, because all of us must do it now and then to maintain our sanity.

- Barry Hughart

Our senses are woefully limited. Our brains are but tiny candles flickering in an infinity of darkness. Our only wisdom is to admit that we cannot un…

- Barry Hughart

Fable has strong shoulders that carry far more truth than fact can.

- Barry Hughart

A fool will study for twenty or thirty years and learn how to do something, but a wise man will study for twenty or thirty minutes and become an expe…

- Barry Hughart

The supernatural can be very annoying until one finds the key that transforms it into science," he observed mildly... "Come on, Ox, let's go out and …

- Barry Hughart