Emma Newman

"I think that interpreting events as signs from God is a slippery slope."

"That was the second major lie I told that week. It gets easier, in some ways; now I lie without expending any effort. But I think each one has its own weight. One alone may barely register, like a grain of sand in the palm of one’s hand. But soon enough there’s more than can be held and they start to slip through our grasp if we’re not careful. I’m always careful."

"There’s no sound except the wildlife staking out territories and calling for a mate. The sounds are different here than on Earth, but the purpose seems the same. “This is my patch!” they scream. “I want sex! Come and shag me! I’ll give you strong babies.” It’s the same stuff humans say most of the time. We just dress those needs up in fancier linguistic clothes."

"As a scientist, I know this is madness. But I also know this is an act of faith."

"It’s the first rule of any change to a licensing agreement: it’s not for the benefit of the end user, no matter what they say."

"Show me a person who doesn’t have ongoing problems and I’ll show you an AI."

"I’ve grown out of seeking emotional self-destruction. But even now the doubts are slithering in, making me question whether the hellish foundation my life is built on genuinely equates to coping."

"That’s the trouble with all these bloody lawyers. They build in the loopholes when they’re on the right gov-corp committees so they can exploit them later."

"Nobody does emotional distancing from reprehensible behavior better than the British, after all."

"The car takes us along a long, winding drive, the kind reserved for the sort of place owned by people who want you to spend the last minutes of your journey appreciating just how rich they are."

"Her voice cracks and I fight the tug of memories trying to pull me back to that place where people thought he was the center of the universe. I feel a flash of hatred toward her for being so broken by the loss of him, for needing him so much when he was just a man who scooped up the human detritus from the edges of society and fooled them into thinking they were part of something special."

"I think “majority” is one of my least favorite words. It’s so often used to justify bad decisions."