“Elaine: He saved my life twice. He's the only grown-up I know who keeps his promises.Michael: Yes. It is a point of pride with him. But please — don't mistake it for a virtue.”

“On into the void he flies, unafraid. There is nothing in mere absence that can cow him. Or loneliness. Or the lack of maps and charts. For he is his own path. And he sees by his own light. We watch him from a great distance. From a vantage point no less subjective, no less absolute. And so it's hard to tell whether he imposes himself on the emptiness, or becomes it.”

“I took a strong dislike to him right then to save time and effort later.”

“They used to call the devil the father of lies. But for someone whose sin is meant to be pride, you'd think that lying would leave something of a sour taste. So my theory is that when the devil wants to get something out of you, he doesn't lie at all. He tells you the exact, literal truth. And he lets you find your own way to hell.”

“Could it hurt to take a look? The answer was yes, of course. It's always yes. But I went anyway.”

“That's what I've never been able to get about religion: that charmless combination of altruism and insanity. Give me a cynical, self-interested bastard any day of the week; at least you can play chicken with him and know he'll stick to the rules.”

“Stifling an obscene oath, I went back up the steps at a run, but I was locking the stable when the horse was already at the airport with a false passport.”