Vonda N. McIntyre

"He must have been rebuffed and denigrated all his life, to be so afraid of touching another human being."

"He moved inside the temple to perform his duties. They were few, and empty tradition. The god had departed, long before its last, ridiculed worshippers, as gods always do. The keeper knew that, and al…"

"We spend most of our time carrying trivial cargoes for trivial reasons to trivial people."

"She had learned to doubt, rather than simply to question."

"The intensity of Melissa’s loyalty troubled Snake. She had never known anyone who was so completely oblivious to self-interest. Perhaps Melissa could not yet think of herself as someone with a right t…"

"If you want to. That’s the important thing. For you to do what you want to do. Not what you think anyone else wants or expects you to do."

"Jason was an optimist, and Kylis was experienced."

"He seemed to be so used to having his own way that he could not deal with bad fortune."