John Barnes (author)

"Mother had been talking in that bizarre way a lot lately; it sounded like the Olsen novels, “back when men were full of manliness, fields were full of soybeans, small towns were full of hicks, and lif…"

"It’s a game against the clock, but what isn’t?"

"I know I pretend to be the apolitical businessman a lot, but the reality is that like anybody who’s interested in getting people together with the things they need and want, I have an agenda. I want p…"

"Too bad about all those people, but as Hassan says, compassion speaks well of its holder but does little for its recipient."

"With diligent effort he has established that there is no statistical basis for Murphy’s Law. He has also established that he believes in it anyway."

"Justice has a way of not arriving where and when you wish it."

"People who put principles before people are people who hate people. They won’t much care about how well it works, just about how right it is…they may even like it better if it inflicts enough pain."

"It’s usually just ambition that puts them into it—and like any group of people selected for ambition and nothing else, they turn out to be a pretty bad lot. Like mandarins in China, colonial administr…"