A HUMAN ELEMENT is an elegant and haunting first novel. Unrelenting, devious but full of heart. Highly recommended.

I’m not sure I could trust a man who would bypass an Oreo in favor of vanilla wafers. It’s a fundamental character flaw, possibly a sign of true evil.

There are moments that define a person's whole life. MOMENTS in which everything they are and everything they may possibly become hinge on a single decision.

I've managed to stay alive out here in the Ruin because I'm a realist. I allow the truth to be the truth, no matter how much I might want it to be something else.

There was a sliver of moon and a splash of stars, and the light outlined her face and glistened on the tears that ran like mercury down her cheeks.

Generosity could be as contagious as the zombie plague as long as enough people were willing to be carriers.

You have to keep your mind as wide-open as your eyes, because almost nothing is what it seems.

Rage was sometimes a useful ally in the heat of a fight, but it was a trickster. It made everything seem possible.

Everyone carries around his own monsters.---Richard Pryor

They won the war but lost the peace.

Things said and done innocently should never be used as weapons.

my heart, sometimes singing in the afternoon, the most haunting song of solitude

I believe we could both maintain growth and increase, both in quality and quantity

Sometimes you must agree with someones opinion for the sake of being polite and modest, but within you, you know that you are not foolish and crazy.

What we had actually demonstrated was our cowardice, but there is fellowship in that too.

Yes," answered Sara, nodding. "Adversity tries people, and mine has tried you and proved how nice you are.

Our job is to leave the world a little better than we found it. Not the same... not worse... better.

Boys in their twenties are a waste of time. They have nothing to offer conversationally; they're immature. I feel like I have a better shot with someone in his thirties.

Don't be carried off your feet by anything because it is modern - the latest thing. Go to the Louvre often and spend a good deal of time before the Rembrandts, the Delacroixs.

Where are the marks of the cross in your life? Are there any points of identification with your Lord? Alas, too many Christians wear medals but carry no scars.

O youth! thou often tearest thy wings against the thorns of voluptuousness.