Do you know why Satan is so angry all the time? Because whenever he works a particularly clever bit of mischief God uses it to serve his own Rigteous purposes." "So God uses wicked people as his tools?" "God gives us the freedom to to do great evil, if we choose, then He uses his own freedom to create goodness out of that evil, for that is what He chooses." "So, in the long run, God always wins?" "Yes, in the short run though it can be uncomfortable.

All the common people want is to be left alone. All the ordinary soldier wants is to collect his pay and not get killed. That's why the great forces of history can be manipulated by astonishingly small groups of determined people.

The Lord took twice the time making thee, Alvin Smith, cause it took that long to put the mischief in.

His vices were the vices of his time and culture, but his virtues transcended the milieu of his life.

And then he thought: Is this how idiots rationalize their stupidity to themselves?

I want to be the kind of boy you are, thought Bean. But I don’t want to go through what you’ve been through to get there.

Every person is defined by the communities she belongs to.