“Perhaps this is the ultimate freedom, eh, Dreamlord? The freedom to leave.”

“It's certainly not too late to change to the winning side. But you know, you also have the freedom to stay just where you are. That's what it means to be an American. That's the miracle of America. Freedom to believe means the freedom to believe the wrong thing, after all. Just as freedom of speech gives you the right to stay silent.”

“Adventures are all very well in their place, but there's a lot to be said for regular meals and freedom from pain.”

“Never use five words if you can get away with one, eh? I've known dead men talk more than you do.”

“The young man shivered. He rolled the stock themes of fantasy over in his mind: cars and stockbrokers and commuters, housewives and police, agony columns and commercials for soap, income tax and cheap restaurants, magazines and credit cards and streetlights and computers... 'It is escapism, true,' he said, aloud. 'But is not the highest impulse in mankind the urge toward freedom, the drive to escape?”

“A short story is the ultimate close-up magic trick -- a couple of thousand words to take you around the universe or break your heart.”

“Charitably... I think... sometimes, perhaps, one must change or die. And, in the end, there were, perhaps, limits to how much he could let himself change.”