"The final lines are not mine: they come from an experiment on soft matter, after Boudin… An English translation might run like this:"

"Mah Bow Tan, age 16, took his 'O' levels - six distinctions, two credits. Mr Chiam, age 18 - 1953 I think - six credits, one pass. He passed his English language, not bad. The next year, in 1954, he w…"

"You cannot drag a man's conscience before any tribunal, and no one is answerable for his religious opinions to any power on earth."

"Thales was born about 640, probably at Miletus, reputedly of Phoenician parentage, and derived much of his education from Egypt and the Near East; here, as if personified, we see the transit of cultur…"

"I cannot conceive of anything after my physical death—perhaps it will end it all. The knowledge that I am now on this earth and a mysterious part of eternity is enough for me. My death will be an easy…"