There's a unique bond of trust between readers and authors that I don't believe exists in any other art form; as a reader, I trust a novelist to give me his or her best effort, however flawed.

As for the depiction of the Catholic church, it's not meant to be a prediction

It occurs to me that our survival may depend upon our talking to one another.

The Great Change is when humankind accepts its role as part of the natural order of the universe instead of its role as a cancer

Words are the only bullets in truth's bandolier. And poets are the snipers.

If everyone could understand the working of a psychopath's mind, we undoubtedly would be closer to insanity ourselves.

Nobody gets beyond a petroleum economy. Not while there's petroleum there.

Seduction... was both a science and art - a blend of skill, discipline, proximity, and opportunity. Mostly proximity.

Poets are the mad midwives to reality. They see not what is, nor what can be, but what must become.

History viewed from the inside is always a dark, digestive mess, far different from the easily recognizable cow viewed from afar by historians.

The shortest route to courage is absolute ignorance.

Mum is a perfectionist and Dad is a pedant and that was partly why their marriage didn't work so well, Elsa figures. Because a perfectionist and a pedant are two very different things.

An Odonian’s goal is positive, not negative. Suffering is dysfunctional, except as a bodily warning against danger. Psychologically and socially it’s merely destructive.

What we do in life echoes in eternity. This is how greatness is made.

There's no question dolphins are smarter than humans as they play more.

Confidence is a habit that can be developed by acting as if you already had the confidence you desire to have.

From the Book of Mormon we learn how disciples of Christ live in times of war.

Every night is different, a ball of thread that unrolls differently.

So now what? What happens when words fail us?

Good energy was never meant to be waisted on idiocy.

So long as we perceive this world in motion, we have to conceive will behind it.