"“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.”"

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

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

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

"“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.”"

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

"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?"

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

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

"Like every novice, I fancied myself a discoverer."

"I feel my capacity to experience a terror greater than anything yet conceived by the human mind—something combining in fearful and unnatural amalgamation hitherto supposed incompatible elements."

"O'Brien's early death undoubtedly deprived us of some masterful tales of strangeness and terror."

"'I didn't find it in the least difficult,' said Grigg. 'Those meant to succeed at a thing never do find the thing difficult.' 'Meant? Meant by whom?' 'By the life of which they are a part, whether they know it or not.' 'It is very mystical,' said Grigg."

"Upon the passage to truth, cross-currents are to be expected."

"The idea came to him, not for the first time, that most of the things which people buy in the belief that they are luxuries are really poor substitutes for luxury."

"It was, in any case, quite useless, and, like most useless things, useless almost immediately."

"When the ambush came, he was the one who knocked me down and threw himself on top of me, taking my share of the bullets and frags. Dying, his body twitched on top of me, and I hesitate to say it, but it was as if he were making love to me. And I guess he was, at that."

"She was almost glowing with resolution. She realized that to display moral qualities demands practice, just as much as intellectual and manual qualities."

"William gave me a look that said it was too bad I was brain-damaged."

"She had rather looked down on such shops and on such clothes, but that had been ignorance and the wrong kind of sophistication."

"But promises were being broken all around. Most of us in Nam were the children of the last war that was ever supposed to be fought anywhere in the world. All of the baby boys were promised that they would grow up and become successful and all of the baby girls were promised that someday their princes would come. Then along came the goddamn government and bingo, it sent the princes off to battle communism and issued them the right to hate anyone not in their unit. Then it sent them home in body bags, or with their handsome faces melted or blown away, their bodies prematurely aged with disease or terrible wounds, and their idealistic souls turned into sewers. And those were the survivors."

"Fortunately, he was the sort of person who, when he demanded an explanation, listened to it."

"I don’t spend all day reading the newspapers. It can get hold of you as poisonously as the television, if you once let it."

"You do comprehend, do you not, that symbolically is not the same as fillingly?"

"Here we were about to be sacrificed to something ancient and alien that looked like a giant lizard and had the zealousness of a Jesuit missionary and the scruples of a railway company lawyer. That beast was not going to be happy when it learned that its so-called advanced knowledge was outdated by several thousand years."

"“Why, we’ll do missionary work for it natcherly,” Drake said, “spreadin’ enlightenment to anybody too dumb to listen, until we have ultimately converted all those souls sufferin’ from excess wealth—” “Yep,” Kruger said. “We’ll give ’em a choice. They can convert from rich to poor or from alive to dead.”"

"While it was not bloodthirsty—for human blood anyway—it didn’t discourage bloodthirsty practices: its attitude was aloof, as befitted its station, the god who couldn’t be bothered with the petty problems of its worshipers."

"Mrs. Jenkins, who had disappeared to “freshen up,” at last made her grand entrance. She swept onto the patio like a cross between a parrot and a wedding cake."

"We must draw the line somewhere. Observance of good form is necessary to the orderly completion of lessons. Orderly completion of lessons leads to the orderly growth of society."

"I attempted to explain and he attempted to understand, but the truth fell somewhere between us."

"I was about a foot farther down the wall when I heard a hoarse hacking and a slimy projectile slapped the back of my head. I whirled. Purdy’s camel regarded me with an expression similar to that I have seen on various churchwomen bent on wrecking one’s reputation—sanctimonious malice."

"“Everywhere I go, I meet men like him,” Riana muttered. “Follow them into Straum’s lair or let them toss me into the dungeons. They offer you a choice between hells and expect you to thank them for it.”"

"She didn’t argue. That, more than anything else, told me she hadn’t fully recovered from everything she’d been through. A year ago, she would have argued with me on principle, secure in her teenage sense of immortality and invulnerability."

"“It’s not going to come to that,” I said. “Nobody ever believes it will,” so the driver. “That’s why it does.”"

"You don’t do what’s right because you know it will work out. You do it because you know it’s right."

"Judge not, lest ye be punched in the face for being a self-righteous prick."

"“You mean you just let him go?” “What did you want me to do?” I snapped. “Castrate him on the spot? Execute him?” “Both. Both is good.”"

"“Your fear is all too human. Accept it, but as you walk this path, let your hope guide you.” “And what if hope guides me off the edge of a cliff?” “I said let hope guide you. I never said stop paying attention to where you’re going.”"

"Human ignorance has never needed help."

"If there ever comes a day when I deliberately embrace ignorance, I’ll have lived one day too long."

"Change is a difficult, often violent process, both for individuals and for whole species. The more rapidly change, the uglier the conflict."

"“Damn, Boss. See, this is why everyone likes it better when you’re away on your road trips.” “Don’t call me Boss. Also, staff meeting upstairs in the Wheeler room in 30 minutes.” “That’s cold, Boss. What did we do to deserve that?” “Keep it up, and I’ll make you sit through a PowerPoint presentation.” He raised his hands in surrender. “Cruel and unusual punishment.”"

"I knew the one thing that truly mattered. I knew it could be done."

"“Hey, I’m just playing devil’s advocate.” “Since when did the devil need your help?”"