I'm particularly interested in black swan events: unprecedented surprises that destroy the conventional wisdom about how the world works.

An untrampled scorpion troubles no one.

Laws are a fine thing on paper, but painful when no bribery can ease their bind.

The problem with surviving was that you ended up with the ghosts of everyone you’d ever left behind riding on your shoulders.

Suicide is not something I owe you or yours.

Knowledge is simply a terrible ocean we must cross, and hope that wisdom lies on the other side.

Killing isn't free. It takes something out of you every time you do it. You get their life; they get a piece of your soul. It's always a trade.

I'm a chess piece. A pawn,' she said. 'I can be sacrificed, but I cannot be captured. To be captured would be the end of the game.

The surfeit of bad trends pushes me to set my stories in worlds which are often diminished versions of our own present.

The future looks a bit bleak to me.

But then, that was the problem with pretty toy stitches. When real life got hold of them, they always tore out.

I don't profess any religion

One who kill, own life will be shortened; One who harms, will be injured even more

Whenever things sound easy, it turns out there's one part you didn't hear.

I refuse to do anything that would help Republicans win a Senate seat in New York, and give the Senate majority to the Republicans.

The clergy complain of the enormous spread of bold books, from the infidel tract to the latest handling of the miracle question.

Anybody who'd expend energy preventing people from hearing music seems not to understand the basic principal of making music in the first place. It's so antithetical to being a musician.

It is difficult to esteem a man as highly as he would wish.

Take care of yourselves, and take care of each other.

You cannot barter manhood for peace.

We do have the precious opportunity of this human life.