"She spun, as a matter of form and status alone, her woollen yarn and her oft-breaking thread. What else did she spin? he wondered. And the answer, not spoken aloud, was, a web. And one that now seemed sure to hold him fast. To hold him fast indeed."

"It had not been precisely a fruitful meeting, but it had been a long one."

"Clearly this was no time to ask if they should first define their terms. Nor, for that matter, had Socrates had to define the bowl of hemlock."

"It is not a very interesting night market, anyway. No wonderful things are sold there, though often one wonders, next day, how one could have bought them..."

"Everything meant something, still, some meanings were revealed sooner than others. And that some were seemingly never revealed in no way disproved the fact."

"Though you expel Nature with a pitchfork, she will always return."

"And then in that, admittedly magnificent, abrupt moment you saw what I concede without argument was the face of rather an attractive wench, and—Zeus! you weren’t thinking, man—you were simply reacting. It wasn’t your heart, it was your codpiece that the impulse came from!"

"These precautions, perhaps because they had been taken, proved unnecessary."

"Sorcery works against Nature, magic works with it."

"It is not in the nature of any people that it should willingly endure being ruled by another people, whether it is ruled ill or ruled well."

"The ceremony was long and intricate, probably none of them could have explained why half of it was done, and the explanations for the other half would probably have been thoroughly incorrect."

"But the Red Man denied that time, though it must always be paid for, could always be paid for in money."

"Well, rather an ague than a pox. A pox is something one wishes on editors…strange breed, editors. The females all have names like Lulu Ammabelle Smith or Minnie Lundquist Bloom, and the males have little horns growing out of their brows."

"Rumor, I fear, is scarcely as accurate as he is rapid."

"Surely you’ll at least see the Temple? Respect all religions, is my motto, believe in none. Sensible principle. Still, you know, must say, after all, two thousand beautiful priestesses! All ready, willing, able—and I must say—dextrous!— to do their best to inspire male worshippers with love for their goddess, hah-hah!"

"“There may be someone here who knows less about all this than I do,” Clemens said, “but I can’t imagine who.”"

"Where there is no bread, there is no philosophy."

"Hmm...hmm. A stag hunt. To what elaborate lengths the equestrian classes go in order to draw out the simple business of butchering venison."

"“Drew a knife on us,” one muttered, with the sullen rage of the bully who feels wronged when resisted."

"A querulous whine that was almost a question was succeeded by a deep gobble that was almost an answer."

"Recall the instructor at the Academy: “What is Man, young aspirants? Man is an animal that trades…”"

"“Don’t you see?” They did not see. This is the way things were done. Things were done this way. Things weren’t done another way. You did things the way you did things. You didn’t do things the way you didn’t do things."

"No greed was comparable to the appeal of self-sacrifice."

"I can tell you that only a fool destroys useful things merely because he doesn’t like them."

"When the records of our civilization are balanced, then—but perhaps not before—the real importance of dental science will be appreciated. Now it is merely valued at the moment of toothache."

"“Follow me, men! I’m right behind you!”"

"“The fact that you know the questions,” he said, a mite grudgingly, “tends to make me think you might really know the answers.”"

"The short man was all of a piece, but there was nothing reassuring in this; it was a piece of the same material that too many high school principals, boys’ camp directors, and military and naval officers are made of: a texture or quality often dignified by the description, “ability to command”—the desire to bully, override, bear down—the capacity to do so by virtue of office—the habit of having done so for a long time and the confidence of continuing to do so for a long time."

"He who has slain one, will he abstain from slaying many?"

"Life continued, the wheel turned, the earth moved, and even death—that delightful biological necessity—was an aspect of life."

"The instructor-Na has observed in the Na 14 tendencies toward an archaic and dangerous quality to which the ancients gave the name personal ambition."

"Experience may be a bitter teacher, but She is a good one."

"“How is your new woman? Your new-est one, I sh’d say.” Jack shrugged. “Good enough. They all got the same thing.” “Yeh-es,” Jeff nodded, judiciously. “But some of ’m’s got more of it than others.”"

"The beast is always doomed. It’s better to face the fact honestly and not pretty it up with a lot of lies about blowing off steam and reducing tensions and getting rid of this and that, acting out anxieties, moment of truth. Piddle. There’s an ancient word, I don’t know what language it is. Bazazz. All those arguments are a lot of bazazz. Unless you’re wiping out vermin or hunting for meat to eat, the man who kills animals does so because he likes to kill. And people who like to watch do so because they like to see things being killed."

"There was an inn...which kept no register of...a number of seamstresses and tailors who lacked time and place and perhaps inclination to weave the cloths they cut and sewed, depending instead on the activities of those who preferred not to vex the original owners with the tiresome bookkeeping inseparable from purchase."

"Tell him you’ll pay any fine within reason. That dragon-cod can’t even read his own name unless it’s written in gold ink."

"“A conscientious and diligent scientist—” “—must remain a continual student,” a deep voice finished the quotation."

"Things oughtn’t to be the way they are, altogether. But letting a madman burn down the barn is no way to improve them."

"Things were seldom what they seemed. People feared to tempt powers spiritual or temporal or illegal by displays of well being, and the brick screens in from of (or behind, depending on whether one were going in or going out) the doors blocked both the gaze of the curious and the path of demons. Demons can travel only in straight lines; it is the sons of men whose ways are devious."

"Bloodgood Bixbee knew nothing about art, but he knew what he didn’t like."

"The stories I have to tell are not for the ears of youngsters. What were the stories, really? A crowd of men charged from the trench. Later, some of them came back. What more was there to say? Once, a long time ago, war had been glamorous, with pageantry and uniforms to shame a peacock. Now it was only necessary, and the uniforms were the color of mud."

"Their memory was something tangible and heavy, and I would carry it with me."

"I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was."

"Stars, too, were time travelers. How many of those ancient points of light were the last echoes of suns now dead? How many had been born but their light not yet come this far? If all the suns but ours collapsed tonight, how many lifetimes would it take us to realize that we were alone? I had always known the sky was full of mysteries - but not until now had I realized how full of them the earth was."

"I'm no expert on girls, but when one tries to pinch you four times, I'm pretty sure that's flirting."

"Part of me felt like something momentous was about to happen. The other part of me expected to wake up at any moment, to come out of this fever dream or stress episode or whatever it was and wake up with my face in a puddle of drool on the Smart Aid break room table and think, Well, that was strange, and then return to the boring old business of being me. But I didn't wake up."