"It isn’t courtly politics if somebody doesn’t get a dagger in the back."

“He’d expected torture. He hadn’t expected surgery.”

“Only a fool wasted energy on things he could not control.”

“Huygens, there are times when I take comfort in my sinful nature, for it means I’ll meet you in hell. I’ll be the one stomping on your jewels with singular dedication.”

“Sometimes the contortions required to spit on Occam’s razor were just as disturbing as the insights one yearned to avoid.”

“The grotesque machine reassembled its head. The medical servitor stood, emitted a burst of ticktock cog chatter, then flung itself into the massacre with the fervor of a religious zealot.”

“First, the fact he awoke at all. Cogito, ergo how the hell aren’t I dead?”