"Even with all that metal and ceramic crammed into the same little corner of space, even with the relatively tiny thousand klicks across what was the inner face of the Ring, the chances that he’d run into anything were trivial. There was a lot more nothing than something."

“I’ve been through a lot of hearings about one damn thing and another. Most of the time they’re exercises in ass covering. If the unvarnished truth ever came out at one, it would be because someone screwed up.”

“The engineers groaned and shook their heads. Legal arguments were another phrase for bullshit to them.”

“Desperate psychotic people do desperate psychotic things when they’re exposed. I refuse to grant them immunity from exposure out of fear of their reaction. When you do, the desperate psychos wind up in charge.”

“She couldn’t beat sense into a stone. Not even when it seemed fun to try.”

“Patriotism was weird shit.”

““Trashy people puke,” Tilly said. “Ladies are unwell.”