John C. Wright

“There is a war, you know, between Cosmos and Chaos, between order and entropy, between reason and unreason. This forms the fundamental basis of existence; I do not see how any victory or lasting peace is possible. The most one can hope for is temporary compromises, temporary armistice. You are not the first victim of this terrible conflict.”

“I cannot describe myself except to say that I am either very vain or very beautiful, and that I hope I am the latter, while suspecting I may be the former.”

“It seemed even the smallest exercise of arbitrary authority could go to one’s head like wine. I told myself to remember this when I was older.”

“You all think I am a coward, when all I am is polite.”

““Broken oaths are bad luck eggs.”“They hatch bad luck.””

“Everyone loses in war, even the winners.”

“I will grant you three wishes, but do not ask for immortality without asking for eternal youth.”

“Miss Daw said, half to herself, “Now you have had your first lesson in what it is like to be a real grown-up woman in a man’s world, my dear. We are judged by our looks, and men are not.””

“Yes, I prayed. Why not? The advantage of being an agnostic over being an atheist is that I always had the possibility of being wrong, and could still entertain the hope that the universe was better organized than it appeared to be.”

““What can you do?”“No. But you will come, because you will hope that it will.””

“You have reached that unfortunate age where you have all of life’s answers and you know everything more perfectly and more profoundly than your elders.”

“I resolved, as I walked, to be the most dangerous one I could be. And in my mind, that meant one thing: thought. Think things through; then act. First be patient; then be brave.”

“So that was my task as leader. Escape from a situation that was complex, dangerous, and littered with unknowns. Get out of the burning labyrinth without stepping on the buried land mines.”

“Comedy is easy. Intrigue is hard.”

““They (i. e., the Olympian gods) operate on moral principles. You have to break a promise to them, or break a rule, for them to get power over you.”Victor commented darkly, “That explains why religions have rules no one can follow. If everyone is a sinner, by definition, everyone is under their power.””

“Everything is inanimate, if by that you mean things that operate according to cause and effect. Free will is an epiphenomenon, a misjudgment impressed upon us and sustained by the actions of brain molecules in motion.”

“Were I a real master of intrigue, I would not have the reputation for being a master of intrigue.”

“Need I say that, if the universe is destroyed, it is unlikely that the British Isles will be preserved?”

“War is murder, king-sized.”

“Come on, Amelia. We are not really British. We do not have to look down our noses at honest labor.”

“Those who work are free. There are only three categories of nonproductive people: babies, beggars, robbers.”

“Quentin looked glum and shook his head. “Unleashing the appetites is not freedom, but another type of slavery. Freedom in the absence of virtue will destroy a country as quickly as any tyranny.”Victor said, “Virtue imposed from without is not virtue at all, but merely prudence. A man who avoids lying merely because a law tells him to tell the truth will avoid telling the truth as soon as the law tells him to lie.””

“We are indeed human beings. We are merely not Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens is a species, something into which one is born. Humanity one chooses. Men who choose inhumanity are merely upright beasts.”

“Whatever dwelt among the stars had nothing to do with earthly concerns. I wonder if you will understand me if I said, staring at the indifference of the cold heavens, that I never felt less religious than in that moment, but staring at their majesty, the grandeur, I never felt more. Cruel Saturn’s created world was worthy of awe.”

“Warlocks are something like doctors, I guess. No matter how much you like them personally, there is quite a bit of nasty mess involved in their line of work.”

“There is no magic, only mysteries explained, and mysteries unexplained.”

“This world, this human earth, this dirty spot within heavenly sphere, is is overwhelmed by all the bloodshed and pollutions of men, their stinking lusts, their cities a-drip with oil, their battlefields with carrion.”

“I had sudden insight into male psychology. My theory: Guys are idiots. Keep this theory in mind. It explains the phenomena while assuming no unnecessary agents.”

“Merlin and Solomon can tell you how well the wise and learned can withstand the foolishness of love!”

“No harder than walking a tightrope over a pit. A deep pit. Filled with sharks. Radioactive sharks.”

“Think, Amelia, think. You read all those books. What would Odysseus do? Dress up like a beggar, and then shoot everyone. No help there. What would Achilles do? Go sulk in his tent. Nope. Aeneas? Sacrifice a cow or something. Boy, these old heroes are really not useful as role models. Who were my other heroes? Margaret Thatcher? Attack Argentina. No time to go wobbly.”

“Women are supposed to domesticate men. List the countries where they treat women like dirt, and then list the crude, warlike, and brutal countries. Same list, yes?”

“Ripples on a pond cannot touch a bird hovering above it.”

“Sometimes the best in people comes out during emergencies. Sometimes not.”

“Death was soon and growing sooner.”

“It is amazing how well the worst ones think of themselves, and how little the best ones do.”

“You were raised perfectly well, better than most. If you feel that the world has treated you unfairly, you have achieved a state of mind well known to all teenagers, but maintained only by adults of a more shrill and self-absorbed type.”