“What would be the use of immortality to a person who cannot use well half an hour?”

“A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper.”

“I was the perfect tool of manipulation, built for deceit and complete with a hunger for immortal souls, but I would use these tools to hunt the souls of those who were already bound for hell.”

“Within half an hour almost all the women were drunk, a yardstick Laing had long used to measure the success of a party.”

“Of what use to humanity, I ask myself, is a man who cannot see beyond his own hurt?”

“What readers ask nowadays in a book is that it should improve, instruct and elevate. This book wouldn't elevate a cow. I cannot conscientiously recommend it for any useful purposes whatever. All I can suggest is that when you get tired of reading "the best hundred books," you may take this for half an hour. It will be a change.”