I don't ever write with a particular audience in mind. I just write books that please me.

There are many more ways to be attractive than to be beautiful.

At some point as adults we cease to be our parents' children and we become our children's parents instead.

But sometimes you can't figure everything out because you can't ever really understand other people. You can't understand why they do what they do. You just have to accept a little mystery, Ben. People are mysterious, the world is mysterious. You can't know everything. You're not supposed to. This isn't a history book. It's just the world. It's a messy place.

no one worth knowing can be quite known, no one worth possessing can be quite possessed

Genes are not simple triggers. No one is hardwired to commit murder or any other crime. Our actions are always the result of stupendously complex gene-environment interactions, and environment is likely to remain the more important influence by far.

Damage hardens us all. It will harden you too, when it finds you—and it will find you