“As you know, human history is full of evil deeds, and maybe we ought to think of them with tears, not fascination.”

“Ever hear the expression "write what you know?" My version says "write what you want to know." If you want to know about the history of Spain, write about the history of Spain - fiction or nonfiction. If your fascinated by the old west, maybe your character lives there.”

“Back in my day, we had it all set up. You lined up when you died, and you'd answer for your evil deeds and your good deeds, and if your evil deeds outweighed a feather, we'd feed your soul and your heart to Ammet, the Eater of Souls""He must have eaten a lot of people.""Not as many as you'd think. It was a really heavy feather. We had it made special. You had better be pretty damn evil to tip the scales on that baby...”

“I swear, every person I know gets far more satisfaction from doing good deeds than receiving them. Maybe that’s the whole point in the end, all of us putting up with good deeds, tolerating them as best we can, counting the minutes until we have the opportunity to reciprocate.”

“Truly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is a still greater evil to be full of them and to be unwilling to recognize them.”

“Unfortunately, evil will never be wholly defeated.Mankind is faced with a continual struggle against evil. We believe that this is where the meaning of our lives and of human history lies.”