I had made her so unhappy that she had developed a sense of humor. [-Rabo Karabekian]

What is the purpose of life?...To be the eyes and ears and conscience of the Creator of the Universe, you fool!

A story has to be a good date, because the reader can stop at any time. Remember, readers are selfish and have no compulsion to be decent about anything.

I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around. Lucky me, lucky mud.

Mankind flung its advance agents ever outward, ever outward. Eventually it flung them out into space, into the colorless, tasteless, weightless sea of outwardness without end. It flung them like stones.

egregious. most people think that word means terrible or unheard of or unforgivable. it has a much more interesting story than that to tell. it means "outside the herd." imagine that - thousands of people, outside the herd.

In this world, you get what you pay for.