John C. Wright

"If you only write one book in your whole life, and only sell 600 copies or less, nonetheless, I assure you, I solemnly assure you, that this book will be someone’s absolutely favorite book of all time…"

"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."

"Unliving things have no passions, and no memory: mere matter is the amnesia of the universe."

"Sometimes the best in people comes out during emergencies. Sometimes not."

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

"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?"

"War is murder, king-sized."

"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."