“Just because you pretend the universe doesn't have teeth doesn't mean you won't get eaten in the end.”

“You know you've got my support", Reid told him. "Whatever difficult decisions you need to make. All I would ask is that you be alert to..." For a moment he seemed at a loss."To what?" Louis said impatiently.Reid picked up a votive candle from the dresser top and observed its flickering light. "The shimmer of things," he said. "The spirit and not the letter.”

“And just because you have colleges and universities doesn't mean you have education.”

“I've been trying to fit everything in, trying to get to the end before it's too late, but I see now how badly I've deceived myself. Words do not allow such things. The closer you come to the end, the more there is to say. The end is only imaginary, a destination you invent to keep yourself going, but a point comes when you realize you will never get there. You might have to stop, but that is only because you have run out of time. You stop, but that does not mean you have come to an end.”

“Just because Fate doesn't deal you the right cards, it doesn't mean you should give up. It just means you have to play the cards you get to their maximum potential.”

“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. ”

“[H]istory, in the end, is only another kind of story, and stories are different from the truth. The truth is messy and chaotic and all over the place. Often it just doesn't make sense. Stories make things make sense, but the way they do that is to leave out anything that doesn't fit. And often that is quite a lot.”