What a lost person needs is a map of the territory, with his own position marked on it so he can see where he is in relation to everything else.

Jimmy found himself wishing to make a dent in Crake, get a reaction; it was one of his weaknesses, to care what other people thought of him.

In Heaven, there are no debts - all have been paid, one way or another - but in Hell there's nothing but debts, and a great deal of payment is exacted, though you can't ever get all paid up. You have to pay, and pay, and keep on paying. So Hell is like an infernal maxed-out credit card that multiplies the charges endlessly.

You're dead, Cordelia.' No I'm not. 'Yes you are. You're dead. Lie down.

Time is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space.

Happiness is a garden walled with glass: there's no way in or out. In Paradise there are no stories, because there are no journeys. It's loss and regret and misery and yearning that drive the story forward, along its twisted road.

They spent the first three years of school getting you to pretend stuff and then the rest of it marking you down if you did the same thing.