"Once, they would have meant something to Svetlana, but now all she felt was a faint prickly of recollection. Fluency with mathematics—in the context of any kind of engineering discipline or physical science—was a use-it-or-lose-it skill."

"His parents had abdicated responsibility to an illusion."

"“I don’t like this at all,” Hegazi said. “Believe me,” Sylveste said, “you’re about to like it a lot less.”"

"Such hopes now seemed ludicrous in their naivety, like trying to stop a bulldozer with a feather."

"It’s always easier to hate than to forgive, isn’t it?"

"“You always did think like an engineer, Svieta.” She nodded. It was only hours later that she realised he had not necessarily meant it as a compliment."

"“Even godlike aliens have to act rationally—don’t they?” “I wouldn’t know,” she said. “I can’t recall ever meeting any.”"

"I guess I’ll do what everyone else does: get on with my life and forget the big questions."

"There was something about the cocksure confidence of that statement that gave Auger goose pimples. It was like an invitation to fate."

"It was astonishing how quickly friendship could turn to enmity, she thought, like a compass needle swinging from one pole to the other. They’d been excellent friends. They’d make excellent enemies as well."

"I learnt the true meaning of what was euphemistically described as close-quarters combat. No line-of-sight particle-beam weapons now; no delayed-detonation nano-munitions. What close-quarters combat meant was something which would have been infinitely more recognisable to a soldier of a thousand years earlier: the screaming fury of human beings packed so close together that the only effective way to kill each other was with sharpened metal weapons: bayonets and daggers, or with hands around each other’s throats; fingers pressed into each other’s eye-sockets. The only way to survive was to disengage all higher brain-functions and regress to an animal state of mind. So I did. And in doing so, I learned a deeper truth about war. She punished those who flirted with her by making them like herself. Once you opened the door to the animal, there was no shutting it."

"“Haven’t you ever heard of morale-building?” Khouri had asked. “Heard of it,” Volyova said. “Don’t happen to agree with it. Would you rather be happy and dead, or scared and alive?”"

"Auger could not help marvelling at the experience of being inside the ALS sphere and seeing her world as it should have been. This was an earth that had never known nuclear war, or runaway climatic catastrophe, or smart weather, or a Nanocaust. The sight of it made her want to weep. No image had ever come close to the heartbreaking beauty of this small blue world, a beauty all the more acute now that she knew how exquisitely fragile it was. It was the beauty of a butterfly’s wing."

"There’s a lot here we don’t understand. Adding one more thing to the list doesn’t strike me as the worst crime imaginable."

"Hallucination doesn’t preclude a rational response to that same hallucination."

"“But at least you cared. At least you were ready to do something.” “This little mess,” Auger said, “is all because of people who were ready to do something. People like me, who always know when they’re right and everyone else is wrong. Maybe what we need is a few less of us.”"

"“I feel as if I’m missing all the excitement.” ”In my experience,” Tunguska said, making himself a temporary seat, “excitement is always better when it happens to other people.”"

"The simple fact was that she no longer hated them as a matter of principle. It was also a source of shameful amazement that she could ever have wasted so much energy on groundless prejudice, when acceptance and tolerance would have been the easier, even the lazier, course."

"Anxiety is a useful tool: it forces us to make plans. But when too much anxiety freezes us into indecision, it needs checking."

"The future might have been crammed with miracles and wonders, but it also offered truly awesome opportunities for screwing up."

"No one ever took music away from me, but I’m damned if it ever sounds quite as good as it used to when I was twenty."

"But when she tried to say something, the words always seemed trite and inadequate. Nothing measured up. When any moment might be their last, there was nothing she could ever imagine saying that had the necessary dignity to fill that instant. Silence was better. Silence had its own dignity."

"She must have walked through life with men like him falling at her feet, squashing them underfoot like autumn leaves. It probably happened so often that all she noticed was that nice crunching sound."

"Nice girls don’t carry guns."

"“I’ll survive,” Floyd said. “I’m a private detective. If I don’t get clouted on the head at least once a week, I’m not doing my job properly.”"

"“The central defect of the human mind,” Custine said, “is its unfortunate habit of seeing patterns where none exist. Of course, that is also its chief asset.” “But sometimes a very dangerous one.”"

"“The Fascists got what they deserved,” Floyd said. “My husband lived long enough to see those monsters come to come to power. He saw through their lies and promises, but he also knew that they spoke to something nasty and squalid in the human spirit. Something in all of us. We want to hate those who are not like us. All we need is an excuse, a whisper in the ear.”"

"Why was it never good news that put problems into perspective? Why did it always take another set of problems?"

"“Is that as bad as it sounds?” Floyd asked. “No,” Auger said. “It’s worse. A lot worse.”"

"It was bad, but it was some other slightly less piquant flavour of bad."

"“Is he going to be okay?” Svetlana asked. “He was dead, Svieta,” Axford said patiently. “Anything else has to count as an improvement.”"

"It was a glaring omission, a sign of cosmic sloppiness. Not even that, Vasko corrected himself. It was a sign of cosmic obliviousness. The universe didn’t know what was happening here. It didn’t know and it didn’t care. It didn’t even know that it didn’t know."

"“But of course, you don’t believe in the existence of sin, do you?” “I believe in the existence of reckless stupidity,” Rashmika replied."

"“Personally,” Scorpio said, “I think it’s time to stop thinking chivalry and start thinking artillery.”"

"I’m fed up with everyone being lied to just because the administration thinks it’s in our best interests not to know all the facts."

"“Until recently we were a trio. Before that, a quartet. Perhaps it’s just me, but I’m beginning to detect a trend.”"

"He’s not really a religious man, but he knows which side his bread’s buttered on. The churches pay his salary, so he doesn’t want anyone rocking the boat with unorthodox rumours."

"“That would require an unprecedented leap of faith.” “I don’t do faith,” Scorpio said."

"She had almost dared ask, but was perhaps too fearful of hearing something she could not refute."

"“Don’t you agree with me?” “On some distant theoretical level, just possibly.”"

"“Maybe it’s not as bad as she fears. Old people always think the world is going to ruin. It’s their job.” “Maybe they’re right,” Floyd replied."

"“There’s a catch,” Skellsgard said. “Another one? But of course there is. You know, I’m thinking I should start a collection.”"

"“It must be a real one-horse town.” Auger shook her head as she lit a cigarette. “It has wild ambitions of becoming a one-horse town.”"

"The virus was not helping. He had hoped that it would, but the feelings it brought were too superficial. When he most needed their succour he could feel them for the paper-thin façades they were. Just because the virus was tickling the parts of his brain that produced feelings of religious experience didn’t mean he was able to turn off the other parts of his mind that recognised these feelings as having been induced artificially. He truly felt himself to be in the presence of something sacred, but he also knew, with total clarity, that this was due to neuroanatomy. Nothing was really with him: the organ music, the stained-glass windows in the sky, the sense of proximity to something huge and timeless and infinitely compassionate were all explicable in terms of neural wiring, firing potentials, synaptic gaps."