Somewhere fate laughs in her far-off country, because now I am the human and it is Grace I will lose again and again, immer wieder, always the same, every winter, losing more of her each...

Anyway, if the Cetagandans really wanted to assassinate you, they’d hardly do it here. They’d slip something subtle under your skin that wouldn’t go off for six months, and then would drop you mysteriously and...

I hope you nail the bastard.”So does he.

Do you work for the government, any government?””I pay taxes, which means I work for the government, part of the time. Yes.

Religious people were big on saying “the tongue is a mighty weapon, so use it wisely,” and then forsaking this claim when the music director slept with the minister’s wife or when the youth minister...

But what use is the unicorn to you if your intellect doesn’t believe in it?

Tremendous beauty and tremendous ugliness puts you on the outside of things.

And now none of it could be undone. That was the exquisite irony: the act that had undone everything could not itself be undone.

Does the mind come with beign human, or is it just a bonus some have?!

Remember to remember: sometimes your adversary is your biggest asset. Where would David be without Goliath? Jesus without Judas?

I do love irony. It’s so…complicated and coincidental.

… a man doesn’t like to have his ego popped, especially when he prides himself on his sagacity, and then to be proved wrong by a man who claims he doesn’t know anything.

Sometimes to be a good parent… You have to laugh when you want to be angry. You have to be angry when you want to laugh. And that is why good parenting is tough.

The worst way to drown is in mainstream.

He wears his cockiness like an ironic T-shirt, but it fits him better.

The things I do for love.

The irony is that I was a single mother, and I raised five kids by myself and put myself through school. I bought my first house in 1999 — that was a very big deal...

Lots of people wrote to the magazine to say that Marilyn vos Savant was wrong, even when she explained very carefully why she was right. Of the letters she got about the problem, 92% said...

Sometimes, you’re the one who strikes it lucky. Sometimes, it’s the other poor bastard who’s left with the short straw, and you just have to shut up and get on with it.

It is a tragicomic fact that our proper upbringing has become an ally of the secret police. (…) The “Tell the truth!” imperative drummed into us so automatically that we feel ashamed of lying even...

Seven pillars of wisdom propping the roof of the temple. Always remember what there’s beyond the pillars.

In spite of her superficial independence, her fundamental need was to cling.All her life was an attempt to disprove it; and so proved it. She was like a sea anemone — had only to be...

I hardly think that any Socialist, nowadays, would seriously propose that an inspector should call every morning at each house to see that each citizen rose up and did manual labour for eight hours.

It’s hard to maintain a reputation for being grim and mysterious when you’re accompanied by a brightly clad young thing, skipping merrily along at your side, holding your hand, and smiling sweetly on one and...

As usual I was working the graveyard shift—an irony I reveled in—at an emergency call center. What other shift would a vampire feel comfortable working?

Nobody ever goes to that store to shop because it’s too crowded.

Christian” minority in the world continues to hoard its wealth while hundreds of millions of people hover on the edge of starvation!

You ought to give up detecting and try fantasy writing, Strike

«Such is the irony of life,» Kruppe proclaimed, raising one pastry-filled hand over his head, «that one learns to distrust the obvious, surrendering instead to insidious suspicion and confused conclusion. But, is Kruppe deceived? Can...

[Norm said,] ‘To all those who argue this war is a mistake, I’d like to point out that we’ve removed from power one of history’s most ruthless and belligerent tyrants. A man who cold-bloodedly murdered...

She had hit rock-bottom. She had given a blow job to a man who for all intents and purposes, was a bum. He had smelled so bad, she forced him to spray on some of...

Even if that were true, it wouldn’t be irony,” Lucas pointed out. “Irony is the contrast between what’s said and what happens.

I would never dream of killing an excellent tailor, not even to keep a secret that could endanger my life.

1776: A declaration of the Parlement of Paris:The first rule of justice is to conserve for each individual that which belongs to him. This is a fundamental rule of natural law, human rights and civil...

Commercial comedy’s often set up to feature an ironist makingdevastating sport of someone who’s naive or sentimental or pretentious orpompous.

Metaphysics in philosophy is, of course, supposed to characterize what is real – literally real. The irony is that such a conception of the real depends upon unconscious metaphors.

But the people only talked about how ugly her face looked. No one even bothered to mention what a sweet, kindhearted girl she was. Now, don’t be amazed! That is just the nature of humans,...

He’s crazy,” Bruno said, twirling a finger in circles around the side of his head and whistling to indicate just how crazy he thought he was. “He went up to a cat on the street...

Gods can screw anything and anybody. For reference, see history.Atticus O’Sullivan

When you raise the most valid of points, you will be grazed by the most hollow of souls, and the most vacant of personages.

So if there is something on the planet that is worth living for, I’d better not miss it, because once you’re dead, it’s too late for regrets, and if you die by mistake, that is...

How bold we are. We shy from a flame that licks the tip of our finger for a fraction of a second, and from which we are allowed the luxury of escape. But most of...

La loyauté de chacun d’eux —dont personne ne doutait— serait garantie par la présence des autres.

And how is your head? Better?” he asked.”Very much. Sometimes it hurts.” Right now it was throbbing. “But every day I am much improved.””Where did you hit it? Are you bruised?”I put a hand to...

An unhappy ending makes it literature rather than romantic fiction.

…I remember that my mother had always said to be polite and finish my meal. At last he gave no more struggles. The deed was done. Now the boat contained four men, not one heartbeat...

Life is full of little ironies, but it’s also pockmarked with some the size of that big rock in Australia.

These were always the weirdest trips for me, when it was midnight or even later, and we pulled up to a dark house, trying to be quiet. Like a robbery in reverse, creeping around to...

Who else but me is ever going to read these letters?

I feel no grief for being called somethingwhichI am not;in fact, it’s enthralling, somehow, like a goodback rub