I never write a book unless I can't help it. Something has to bother me, like a mosquito, until I have to do something to relieve the itch.

I shall pray for your soul,' promised Nessarose. I shall wait for your shoes,' Elphie answered.

I never use the words HUMANIST or HUMANITARIAN, as it seems to me that to be human is to be capable of the most heinous crimes in nature.

Skibbereen have a hard time at [math]; the best that the smartest of them can do with adding two plus two is guessing: three plus one. Correct, sort of, but not always useful.

No one survives in times of war unless they make war their home. How did I get so old and wise, but for welcoming war into my house and making friends with him? Better to befriend the enemy and hang on. Something worse might come along, which might be amusing or might not.

Where I'm from, we believe in all sorts of things that aren't true... we call it history.

It's unbecoming," she agreed. "A perfect word for my new life. Unbecoming. I who have always been unbecoming am becoming un.