Children were vehicles for passing things along. These things could be kingdoms, rich wedding gifts, stories, grudges, blood feuds. Through children, alliances were forged; through children, wrongs were avenged. To have a child was to set loose a force in the world.

Science fiction, to me, has not only things that wouldn't happen, but other planets.

Kill what you can't save what you can't eat throw out what you can't throw out bury What you can't bury give away what you can't give away you must carry with you, it is always heavier than you thought.

Powerlessness and silence go together.

For the children with their greedy little mouths represent the future, which like time itself will devour all now alive.

It wasn't so easy though, ending the war. A war is a huge fire; the ashes from it drift far, and settle slowly.

I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will.