“The River Styx,” Annabeth murmured. “It’s so . . .”
“Polluted,” Charon said. “For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you come across—hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me.”
—Rick Riordan/The Lightning Thief

Diiiiiiiiinner.

My mother has to save the strongest for the worst pain, but what is the worst pain? To me, it’s always the pain that is present. If I were in charge, those painkillers would be gone in a day because I have so little ability to watch suffering. My mother tries to save them for those who are actually in the process of dying, to ease them out of the world.
—Suzanne Collins/Catching Fire

Influence in society, however, is a capital which has to be economized if it is to last.
—Leo Tolstoy/War and Peace

‘Well, I want to have my cake and eat yours too,’ said Any, ‘otherwise there’s no point being the birthday girl.’
—Lyn Gardner/Out of the Woods

‘You don’t want to go to the Neverafters, not young things like you,’ she said kindly.

‘Why not?’ asked Aurora, ‘what’s wrong with it?’

‘It’s just a bit wild and off the beaten track,’ said the woman. ‘It’s very hard to get to, you’ll never find it. Even with a map, it’s almost impossible to locate. The only people who ever find the Neverafters are those who want to be forgotten: the outcasts, the misunderstood, the scapegoats and the truly heartless. They always seem to find the path; it’s as if they are drawn there. It’s not so much a place as a gap on the map where perhaps something was but is no longer.’
—Lyn Gardner/Out of the Woods

Her: I saw a bumper sticker yesterday. Galt/Rearden 2012, I just shrugged.
Me: Really? Really? Not Galt/Taggart? They couldn’t let Dagny run?
Her: I think we learned our lesson by having a female vice presidential candidate run all those years ago.
Me: Couldn’t give the bitch her due?
Her: You do know these are imaginary people?
Me: I do know that, I’m just bugged that even in imaginary Republican parties a sexually liberated woman is too much a whore to hold office.
Her: Yeah but did you hear me? I shrugged. I Shrugged. That was the punch line.
Me: Yes, you’re very funny. I should’ve mentioned that first.