"Smeds did not like it. It was getting complicated. He did not like things complicated. Trying to untangle them usually made things worse."

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“Rich men have dreams. Poor men die to make them come true.”

“We are not really a godless bunch. We are just the sort who ignore the gods—probably in the unconscious hope that the gods will not notice us.”

“If I had my druthers I’d be twenty-three years old for the rest of my life. Which would last another three thousand years.”

“One’s own yesterday is a ghost that will not be laid. Death is the only exorcism.”

“I have seen it before. Little people have to hate, have to blame someone for their own inadequacies.”

“Exact words were of no consequence. At heart the squabble was as old as humanity itself, fug-headed antiques locking horns with omniscient youth.”

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