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

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 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.

Some things, it was better not to think about. It just made you mad and angry.

You can’t fool people into loving you.

Own your own dreamsCornelius Crapp to Gerald Crapp

This business of womanhood is a heavy burden.

All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.

I can hire out for editing, proofreading, formatting, and cover design, and those are fixed, sunk costs. Once those are paid, I can earn 70% on a self-pubbed ebook.

It would nice to live in a world where art can just be art!

I give people Ayn Rand with trappings.

You think it more difficult to turn air into wine than to turn wine into blood?.

I've always led a pretty simple life, with few extravagances. The money in tennis never drove me.

Ancient Chinese custom if you were a guest in one of their homes and you admired some particular thing, they would wrap it up and present it to you as a gift. But isn't that what life does.