I was interested in political failure here in the U.S. The way we're failing to work together to solve even our smallest problems, let alone the complex ones.

An untrampled scorpion troubles no one.

Laws are a fine thing on paper, but painful when no bribery can ease their bind.

The problem with surviving was that you ended up with the ghosts of everyone you’d ever left behind riding on your shoulders.

Suicide is not something I owe you or yours.

Knowledge is simply a terrible ocean we must cross, and hope that wisdom lies on the other side.

Killing isn't free. It takes something out of you every time you do it. You get their life; they get a piece of your soul. It's always a trade.

I'm a chess piece. A pawn,' she said. 'I can be sacrificed, but I cannot be captured. To be captured would be the end of the game.

The surfeit of bad trends pushes me to set my stories in worlds which are often diminished versions of our own present.

The future looks a bit bleak to me.

But then, that was the problem with pretty toy stitches. When real life got hold of them, they always tore out.

Adoption is grief in reverse.

Now the bigots have to get creative. Good luck coming up with slurs for Chechens. Go back where you came from, Ushanka head.

I feel like there is always something trying to pull us back into sleep, that there is this sort of seductive quality in all the hedonistic pleasures that pull on us.

The successful painter is continually painting still life.

I love seeing someone else's health improve.

Ageing is a privilege not a predicament.

Albrecht's Law: Social innovations tend to the level of minimum tolerable well being.

I remember my dad came from Ireland and Scotland, and so he carried with him the fear of poverty. So when I wanted to break loose, it kind of made him very nervous.

We are not important to the universe. That's the bad news.

Take it in what sense thou wilt.