On reflection,’ Crake said to Frey, as they huddled behind an upturned table, ‘this wasn’t one of your better plans.

Once upon a time there was a young lady who lived in a marsh, and her name was Poison.

Imagination is as close as we will ever be to godhead . . . for in imagination, we can create wonders.

If there was one thing worse than being cheated, it was being cheated by someone who referred to themselves in the third person.

Cynicism was a one-way path, and once taken the way back was lost forever.

Real life is a story, too, only much more complicated. It’s still got a beginning, a middle, and an end. Everyone follows the same rules, you know. . . It’s just that there are more of them. Everyone has chapters and cliffhangers. Everyone has their journey to make. Some go far and wide and come back empty-handed; some don’t go anywhere and their journey makes them richest of all. Some tales have a moral and some don’t make any sense. Some will make you laugh, others make you cry. The world is a library, young Poison, and you’ll never get to read the same book twice.

I just wanted them to die," said Poison. "They didn't have to make such a drama about it.