Novelists From The United States

"He got in loud fights with Baba all the time. I don’t remember words. Words are never important in arguments, only how loud we shout them."

"“Ashes, how did you do it?” “I’d like to say it was all my own talent, but cats are naturally modest.”"

"“The strongest don’t always get what they want,” she said to Ending. “Not when the weak can work together.”"

"“You know, you could be a bit more constructive,” Alice said. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around the magnitude of your insanity,” the cat muttered. “Once I’ve got that handled, I’ll get started on the mind-numbing terror.”"

"“You’re not very loyal,” Isaac said as Alice took his hand. “Loyalty,” Ashes sniffed, “is for dogs. Cats have better sense.”"

"Alice scooped the cat into her arms and planted a kiss on his fuzzy forehead. “What was that for?” Ashes sputtered. “What have I ever done to deserve that?” “I wanted to say thank you,” Alice said, putting him on the ground. “For everything.” “Yes, well. Far be it from me to dispute my own heroism,” Ashes muttered. “But proper thanks should involve tuna.”"

"“You’re mad,” he said. “You’ve gone mad. There’s no two ways about it.” “Your mother was the one who helped me,” Alice said. “Then she’s gone mad too.”"

"I must say, you are the least unintelligent human I have ever met."

"Of course, where magic is involved, appearances don’t mean much."

"“There’s this thing called dignity that some cats have been known to have. You might want to look into it.” “A cat is always dignified, no matter what position he finds himself in,” Ashes said. “A half-cat even more so.”"

"“We’re doomed,” one of the sprites said, turning wildly in a circle as though excited at the prospect. “Doomed! Doomed!”"

"“Well?” the cat said. “Are we going to walk all the way there?” “You’re going to get fat if you keep being so lazy.” “You say that like it’s a bad thing. For cats, being fat that just means that you’re winning.”"

"Ashes looked around at the palm trees, the perfect ocean, and the immaculate beach. “Ugh,” he said. “I’m in hell.”"

"Michael cleared his throat. “You’ve never had a dog, Alice?” Alice shook her head. “My father didn’t like them.” “They’re not like cats,” the boy said. “You give them commands.” “Because they lack all dignity,” said Ashes under his breath."

"The more he didn’t know, she reasoned, the easier he would be to fool."

"It was a bit like trying to tie both shoelaces at once, one with each hand."

"But it’s not justice that they’re mostly concerned with, it’s division of the loot."

"“But didn’t that hurt?” Dex shrugged. “Pain is an illusion. The body is only a clay vessel holding the immortal essence of the soul, so it is a mistake to attach any import to the difficulties it may encounter. In fact, the whole episode reinforced my fundamental understanding of—“ She caught Alice’s expression. “Yes. It hurt quite a lot.”"

"“They were pretty friendly, for dancing skeletons,” Isaac said, waving after them. “If I’ve learned one thing,” Alice said, “it’s not to judge by appearances.”"

"“I wouldn’t try it,” Alice said. “They’re bigger than you are.” “They’re all wing,” he said dismissively. “Believe me. Large birds are the natural prey of the cat.” “Maybe once they’ve been roasted and carved,” Alice said. Ashes snorted."

"Maybe that’s wisdom, seeing things that are obvious."

"“I apologize for Ashes,” Alice said to Michael. “He’s a cat, and—” She paused, and decided that seemed like a complete description. “He’s a cat.”"

"The truth can be useful, sometimes. Assuming you can convince people."

"“He saved me, I saved him,” Alice said. “The usual, really. What else are friends for?” “If you ask me,” the cat said, “friends ought to keep you out of situations where you need saving.”"

"‘‘This isn’t some stupid storybook where the underdog wins in the end. This is the real world. The strongest do what they want, and everyone else has to live with it. Or”—she glanced significantly at Isaac—“not.”"

"They have servants. I’d rather have friends."

"“When you’re as old as I am,” Ending said, “one’s nature is largely a product of habit.”"

"“You’re a cat,” she said automatically. “Your powers of perception are astounding,” the cat drawled. “Although I feel obliged to point out, in the interests of ontological exactitude, that I am in fact only half cat. Personally, though, I have always considered it the better half.”"

"In desperation, she slid her fingers in the cracks between blocks, looking for some kind of catch or hidden mechanism. Which was ridiculous, she thought, because how complicated could a secret door be if a cat figured it out?"

"“What do you see here?” “Books?” “Indeed, books. They are the ocean in which magic swims.”"

"Some things are more important than following the rules. Aren’t they?"

"Magic, you’ll find, is nine parts dull to one part excitement, and the exciting bits usually hurt like the blazes."

"“Patience, my friend.” “I’m not your friend. And I’m not patient.”"

"But—though she was not an expert on cats—she was fairly certain that they did not, as a rule, snicker."

"At that age, Alice had grasped the idea that some things in books were real, and others were not."

"After the cousins came the accountants, who were more open in their appraisals and didn’t bother with Alice at all, and after the accountants, like a Biblical plague building up to a big finish, came the lawyers."

"The exiles, living in mud and fear of death, had, in one way at least, found a better home than those from which they had been driven, a blood-spattered Utopia, now on the fringe of German soil, where no man was rich and none poor, a shell-burst democracy where all living was a community enterprise, where all food was distributed according to need and not according to pocket, where light, heat, lodging, transportation, medical attention, and funeral benefits were at the cost of the government and available with absolute impartiality to white and black, Jew and Gentile, worker and owner, where the means of production, in this case M1s, 30 caliber machine guns, 90s, 105s, 204s, mortars, bazookas, were in the hands of the masses; that ultimate Christian socialism in which all worked for the common good and the only leisure class were the dead."

"Do not boast to me in your newspapers of the thousands of tons of bombs you have let loose at random on the unhappy land of Germany, because I will tell you that you have let loose those bombs on me, on your church, on yourselves and on your God. Tell me, rather, how you have wept for the single German soldier you have been forced to kill as he stood before you armed and dangerous, and I will say, you are my defender and the defender of my church and my England."

"Kill, if you must, because in our weakness and in our error, we have found no other road to peace, but kill remorsefully, kill with a sense of sorrow, kill with economy for the immortal souls who leave this life in battle, carry mercy in your cartridge cases, forgiveness in your knapsacks, kill without revenge, because vengeance is not yours but the Lord’s, kill, knowing that each life you spend makes your life that much the poorer."

"“I still say they’re creepy,” Ashes said. “I don’t think you get to decide what’s creepy,” Alice said. “You’re a talking cat. You’re creepy. This whole place is creepy.”"

"To the Generals eighty miles away, the reports on casualties are encouraging. To the man on the scene the casualties are never encouraging. When he is hit or when the man next to him is hit, when the ship fifty feet away explodes, when the Naval Ensign on the bridge is screaming in a high, girlish voice for his mother because he has nothing left below his belt, it can only appear to him that he has been involved in a terrible accident, and it is inconceivable at that moment to believe that there is a man eighty miles away who has foreseen that accident, encouraged it, made arrangements for it to happen, and who can report, after it has happened (although he must know about the shell, about the listing Landing Craft Infantry, about the wet decks and the screaming Ensign) that everything is going according to plan."

"He was, of course, cheating her, that was what lawyers were for."

"I never write a book hoping someone will take something particular from it. I don’t have a message, and I’m not hoping to impart knowledge or conversion. The mystery of story is that we take from it what we need or want—there is no prerequisite or test at the end."

"Kids are kids. No matter what year it is, no matter what language they speak or culture they’re in. There is something deeply universal about being a teenager, and I try to capture that universality in the things that I write."

"I’ve never really defined myself by a single identity—and in these times where identity means so much, I sometimes feel like I’m a bit of an outsider to every identity. Perhaps that makes me uniquely suited to writing about teens, who often feel on the outside"

"I don’t think you know anyone fully until you know them in relationship to something else or someone else."

"“Don’t tell me this is about protecting humanity,” Alice said. “None of you cares one bit about the people in the real world. This is about power, just as it always has been. You’re afraid of losing a little bit of power.”"

"The sum total of Alice’s medical knowledge was that blood was supposed to stay on the inside."

"We see our cities crumble under the enemy’s bombs, and we mourn for our children struck at their early tasks by the enemy’s bullets, and we strike back, cruelly and wildly, from the seabed of our hatred, at his cities and his children. The enemy is more savage than the tiger, hungrier than the shark, crueler than the wolf; in honor and in defense of our moderate way of life, we stand up to him and combat him, but in doing so we out-tiger him, out-shark the shark, over-wolf the wolf. Will we at the end of all this then pretend to ourselves that the victory is ours? The thing we defend perishes from our victory as it would never perish from our defeat."

"Meeting my readers is energizing. I put aside these weeks and know that although I will be physically exhausted, I will be deeply enriched by the experiences and the people along the way. I don’t tell stories so I can isolate myself; I tell stories to connect to the larger world of human experience, and that is what keeps me going!"