Who would I be, if other good souls did not make up for my shortcomings?

a lot of human behavior was really acting out our responses to dangers long past.

[T]he politically correct are above the rules of ordinary civility, once they have identified you as an unbeliever in their religion.

. . . All these readers have placed themselves inside this story, not as spectators, but as participants, and so have looked at the world, not with my eyes only, but also with their own.

Personal affection is a luxury you can have only after all your enemies are eliminated. Until then, everyone you love is a hostage, sapping your courage and corrupting your judgment.

The lies we live will always be confessed in the stories that we tell.

Sometimes good people have to do terrible things.