“There is, I find, something very evocative about ruins - particularly recent ones. (introduction to "Calico Black, Calico Blue")”

“You are so beautiful in that little black dress.""Every girl should own a little black dress""Every boy should see his girl in one.”

“Maybe she's got a Facebook page, like every other kid in America. We could put something on her wall."Her eyes lit up very briefly before she slumped. "No, she's far too paranoid for that.""I was joking.""Yes, but you know how kids are about Facebook.""But she's hiding from an eight-foot-tall sociopathic werewolf wizard who can call down lightning bolts.""We're also talking about Facebook."Tristan contemplated her. "I think I need to feed you. Your blood sugar must be getting low.”

“This may be impossible for you to believe," Colt said in a hushed voice, "but as recently as last year, I was a hyper, naive-albeit extremely good-looking-minor myself.""And now you're a persistent, outdoorsy, unshaven man-boy who cavorts with clones of your former self?"Colt plucked a round stone out of the water. "I prefer boy-man, but the rest of the sentence sounded fairly accurate.”

“God, Alex loved me.He truly did. I just hadn't learned that time is elastic: it stretches and gives, far more graciously than it probably should, and then one day, when you least expect it, something simply ruptures, and you sheltered life is done.”

“On a grander scale, when a society segregates itself, the consequences affect the economy, the emotions, and the ecology. That's one reason why it's easy for pro-lifers to eat factory-raised animals that disrespect everything sacred about creation. And that is why it's easy for rabid environmentalists to hate chainsaws even though they snuggle into a mattress supported by a black walnut bedstead.”

“A farmer friend of mine told me recently about a busload of middle school children who came to his farm for a tour. The first two boys off the bus asked, "Where is the salsa tree?" They thought they could go pick salsa, like apples and peaches. Oh my. What do they put on SAT tests to measure this? Does anybody care? How little can a person know about food and still make educated decisions about it? Is this knowledge going to change before they enter the voting booth? Now that's a scary thought.”