People react predictably, especially when they don't have time to think.

There's no original evil left in the world. Everyone's just recycling pain. (257)

Relationships are never chance events.

The good guys had to operate on a higher level than the killers--just for society to keep track of who was who.

When people can do something simple to avoid conflict--say, hit a button or unlock a latch--they'll generally do it.

...the horrific fact that our lives and those of the people we love are impermanent and exquisitely fragile, that any of us can cease to exist without warning, that loving anyone, anywhere, at any time, leaves you infinitely vulnerable at every single moment. (20)

Sometimes when you push someone, you find out who that person really is.