I wonder sometimes if the motivation for writers ought to be contempt, not admiration.

A duel is just two murders who agree to take turns trying to kill each other.

I'm not a liar, sir,' she said. "'No, I'm sure you sincerely become whatever it is you're pretending to be.

If he was a good man, how could he leave me? So he must not be a good man. But if he isn't good, then why does it hurt so much to lose him?

If only we were wiser or better people, perhaps the gods would explain to us the mad, unbearable things they do.

I need you to be clever, Bean. I need you to think of solutions to problems we haven't seen yet. I want you to try things that no one has ever tried because they're absolutely stupid.

As he thought of it, though, he could not imagine what “just living” might actually be. He had never done it in his life. But he wanted to do it anyway.