You see how fake it all is. It's not even hard enough to be made out of plastic. It's a paper town.

...it occurred to me that the voracious ambition of humans is never sated by dreams coming true, because there is always the thought that everything might be done better and again.

The true ninja doesn't make a splash at all.

It's bad for your brain not to unplug.

That's always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they're pretty. It's like picking your breakfeast cereals based on color instead of taste.

I hated hurting him. Most of the time, I could forget about it, but the inexorable truth is this: They might be glad to have me around, but I was the alpha and the omega of my parents' suffering.

Different authors write different ways, have different relationships with their audiences, and those are all legitimate.