“The only book Knight didn't steal was the one he most often saw. 'I had no need for a Bible,' he said.” — Michael Finkel Bible Copy Share Image
My fight-or-flight mechanism... had served me well in Gaza, in Afghanistan, and all the places I'd been. — Michael Finkel Afghanistan Copy Share Image
“survive, and neither do the strong. Life is a constant, merciless fight that everyone loses.” — Michael Finkel Life Copy Share Image
I'm always theoretically opposed to capital punishment as a matter of policy; like, I don't believe a state should put its citizens… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“reaching through time and speaking directly to him: Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground. “I recognize myself” — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“Noise harms your body and boils your brain. The word "noise" derives from the Latin word nausea.” — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
I am guaranteeing you that if you see my byline on a story, it's going to be the cleanest story you've ever… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
I always fancied myself an outdoorsman, even though I'm a Jewish guy from the East Coast. — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
In an odd sort of way, the computer and the Internet is the hermit's ideal form of communication. You don't have to… — Michael Finkel Communication Copy Share Image
I tend to be a fairly spirited person, but I've never hated anyone more than I hated Christian Longo after his trial,… — Michael Finkel Duped Copy Share Image
“The American essayist William Deresiewicz wrote that “no real excellence, personal or social, artistic, philosophical, scientific, or moral, can arise without solitude.” — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“Socrates may have concluded that his most valuable possession was his leisure. “Beware the barrenness of a busy life” is a quote… — Michael Finkel Busy life Copy Share Image
I think many people have this sense that something about modern society - the screens, the noise, the traffic, the constant busyness… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
The so-called modern conveniences may, in fact, be extremely inconvenient - everything seems to exist as a distraction from any sort of… — Michael Finkel Distraction Copy Share Image
“If you have low levels of the pituitary peptide oxytocin—sometimes called the master chemical of sociability—and high quantities of the hormone vasopressin,… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
In my writing, I try to combine all my favorite elements of journalism - accuracy, real characters that exist on this planet… — Michael Finkel Books Copy Share Image
“The uncertainty wore on him. The conditions in jail--the handcuffs, the noise, the filth, the crowding--mangled his senses. It's likely that, if… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“Tao Te Ching says that it is only through retreat rather than pursuit, through inaction rather than action, that we acquire wisdom.… — Michael Finkel Heaven and earth Copy Share Image
“Language and hearing are seated in the cerebral cortex, the folded gray matter that covers the first couple of millimeters of the… — Michael Finkel Access Copy Share Image
“It's possible that Knight believed he was one of the few sane people left. He was confounded by the idea that passing… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“Asperger felt that autistic people could have beneficial talents, especially what he called a “particular originality of thought” that was often beautiful… — Michael Finkel Creativity Copy Share Image
“Solitude increased my perception. But here’s the tricky thing: when I applied my increased perception to myself, I lost my identity. There… — Michael Finkel Identity Copy Share Image
“He was confounded by the idea that passing the prime of your life in a cubicle, spending hours a day at a… — Michael Finkel Computers Copy Share Image
“If you’re born a human oddity,” says the introductory chapter of Very Special People, “every day of your life, starting in infancy,… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“Even Henry David Thoreau, not known for kvetching, wrote in The Maine Woods that he was “seriously molested” by bugs.” — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
I spent 12 years traveling more than six months a year. I really needed to see the world. — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“There was no one to complain to in the woods, so I did not complain,' Knight said.” — Michael Finkel Knight Copy Share Image
America might be the land of second chances, but it ain't the land of third chances. — Michael Finkel America Copy Share Image
“And what about a text message? Isn't that just using a telephone as a telegraph?” — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“Christopher Knight, you could argue, is the most solitary known person in all of human history.” — Michael Finkel History Copy Share Image
“Not till we have lost the world,” wrote Thoreau, “do we begin to find ourselves.” — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“He’s a genius with my Prius,” says the co-owner of Left Bank Books, the town’s independent bookstore. The” — Michael Finkel Writer Copy Share Image
You can read my stuff; there are not very many quotes. It's more impressionistic. — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
I moved at age 22 to Montana to be able to walk in really wild woods, where the chances of being killed… — Michael Finkel Age Copy Share Image
“When he hears how songs are now shared and downloaded, Knight is equally unimpressed. "You're using your computers, your thousand-dollar machines, to… — Michael Finkel Computers Copy Share Image
“Herman Melville, the author of Moby-Dick, largely withdrew from public life for thirty years. “All profound things,” he wrote, “are preceded and… — Michael Finkel Books Copy Share Image
Perhaps one could say I've worked in South Africa too long, but I believe in forgiveness, especially when a person admits a… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
I think that it's human nature to categorize and label things. That's generally the way that the medical and psychological professions work.… — Michael Finkel Copy Share Image
“I have only in my life carried to an extreme what you have not dared to carry halfway, and what’s more, you… — Michael Finkel Cowardice Copy Share Image
“Knight, of course, felt that anyone's willing assistance tainted the whole thing. Either you are hidden or you're not, no middle ground.… — Michael Finkel Alone Copy Share Image
