Obviously, a writer can't know everything about what she writes. It's impossible.

Consequently, if you believe God made Satan, you must realize that all Satan's power comes from God and so that Satan is simply God's child, and that we are God's children also. There are no children of Satan, really.

Was it fair to say I didn't know the full state of my soul?

I never lie," I said offhand. "At least not to those I don't love.

Perhaps I fear him because I could love him again, and in loving him, I would come to need him, and in needing him, I would again be his faithful pupil in all things, only to discover that his patience for me is no substitute for the passion which long ago blazed in his eyes.

Phil was mumbling that Reuben might become a writer after all and writers had a way of "redeeming everything that ever happens to them.

Being liberated means reading what you want to read, and fantasizing about what you want to fantasize about.