“What do the dice say?"Dice say nothing. They are dice."Why roll'em, then?"They are dice. What else would I do with them?”

“We do what we must, we do what we are told, we do what is easiest. What else can we do but solve one sordid problem at a time? Then one day we look up and find that we are . . . this.”

“I've been on jobs like that before, everyone stuck on the money not the work, watching their backs every minute. Bad for your health and your business. We'll do this civilised, or not at all. What do you say?"I say civilised," said Shenkt. "For pity's sake, let's kill like honest men.”

“One act presses upon another, on a path we have no choice but to follow, and each time there are reasons. We do what we must, we do what we are told, we do what is easiest. What else can we do but solve one sordid problem at a time? Then we look up and find... this.”

“They appear somewhat unreliable," he murmured."Unreliable? Nonsense, Superior! Out of luck is all, and we both know how that goes, no? Why, there's not a man of them I wouldn't trust my mother to.""Are you sure?""She's been dead these twenty years. What harm could they do her now?”

“Any man can do what he likes. Right, Splitfoot?’‘Right, Chief.’‘Just as long as it’s exactly what I fucking tell ’em to do.”

“Well. What can we do, except try to do better?”