Fiction wouldn't be much fun without its fair share of scoundrels, and they have to live somewhere.

the best lies to tell are the ones people want to believe

You see? I know where every single book used to be in the library. She pointed to the shelf opposite. Over there was Catch-22, which was a hugely popular fishing book and one of a series, I believe.

If you enjoyed laughing in the face of death, you might like to have a crack at High Saffron. One hundred merits, and all you have to do is take a look.' 'I understand there's a one hundred percent fatality rate?' 'True. But up until the moment of death there was a one hundred percent survival rate. Really, I shouldn't let anything as meaningless as statistics put you off.

You have many fine qualities that I admire. But you are out of time. You should have been born a century ago, when values such as yours meant something.

Yes, and imagine a world where there were no hypothetical situations.

the Real-World was a sprawling mess of a book in need of a good editor.