John C. Wright

"Yes, I prayed. Why not? The advantage of being an agnostic over being an atheist is that I always had the possibility of being wrong, and could still entertain the hope that the universe was better organized than it appeared to be."

"You have reached that unfortunate age where you have all of life’s answers and you know everything more perfectly and more profoundly than your elders."

"I will grant you three wishes, but do not ask for immortality without asking for eternal youth."

"This thought had led to the fear that I might pick the wrong God to pray to. I thought that, because praying to the wrong God was expressly a sin, and because a merciful God might forgive me for forgetting to pray, it therefore followed that, even without knowing which one was the right one, my best chances lay in staying quiet and hoping for the best. That strategy worked in class when I didn’t know the answer, so I supposed it might work in the arena of theology, also."

"“Broken oaths are bad luck eggs.” That was so weird, I did not know what to say. So I said, “Eggs?” “They hatch bad luck.”"

"“What can you do?” “I can bring you in dream to one who dreams of you.” “Will that help me?” “No. But you will come, because you will hope that it will.”"

"Come on, Amelia. We are not really British. We do not have to look down our noses at honest labor."

"Miss Daw said, half to herself, “Now you have had your first lesson in what it is like to be a real grown-up woman in a man’s world, my dear. We are judged by our looks, and men are not.”"

"Were I a real master of intrigue, I would not have the reputation for being a master of intrigue."

"Comedy is easy. Intrigue is hard."

"“They (i. e., the Olympian gods) operate on moral principles. You have to break a promise to them, or break a rule, for them to get power over you.” Victor commented darkly, “That explains why religions have rules no one can follow. If everyone is a sinner, by definition, everyone is under their power.”"

"You all think I am a coward, when all I am is polite."