Leave me in the night but please don't leave me in the dark

The pervasive brutality in current fiction - the death, disease, dysfunction, depression, dismemberment, drug addiction, dementia, and dreary little dramas of domestic discord - is an obvious example of how language in exploitative, cynical or simply neurotic hands can add to the weariness, the darkness in the world.

If you want to make a name for yourself, the oldest trick in the book is to attack what everybody else reveres.

There're many ways, my dear, to victimize people. The most insidious way is to persuade them that they're victims.

The beauty of simplicity is the complexity it attracts.

The first thunderstorm of the season was in the dressing room, donning its black robes and its necklace of hailstones, strapping on its electrical sword.

Growing up is a trap," snapped Dr. Robbins. "When they tell you to shut up, they mean stop talking. When they tell you to grow up, they mean stop growing. Reach a nice level plateau and settle there, predictable and unchanging, no longer a threat.