“Crossing your fingers, Neville? Knocking on wood? He ignored that, beginning to suspect his mind of harboring an alien. Once he might have termed it conscience. Now it was only an annoyance. Morality, after all, had fallen with society. He was his own ethic. Makes a good excuse, doesn’t it, Neville? Oh, shut up.”

“Come out, Neville.”

“Robert Neville looked out over the new people of the earth. He knew he did not belong to them; he knew that, like the vampires, he was anathema and black terror to be destroyed. And, abruptly, the concept came, amusing to him even in his pain. ... Full circle. A new terror born in death, a new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend.”

“To his complete astonishment, he later found himself offering up a stumbling prayer that the dog would be protected. It was a moment in which he felt a desperate need to believe in a God that shepherded his own creations. But, even praying, he felt a twinge of self-reproach, and knew he might start mocking his own prayer at any second.Somehow, though, he managed to ignore his iconoclastic self and went on praying anyway. Because he wanted the dog, because he needed the dog.”

“Very well then! I'll write, write write. He let the words soak into his mind and displace all else.A man had a choice, after all. He devoted his life to his work or to his wife and children and home. It could not be combined; not in this day and age. In this insane world where God was second to income and goodness to wealth.”

“... And suddenly he thought, I'm the abnormal one now. Normalcy was amajority concept, the standard of many and not the standard of justone man.Abruptly that realization joined with what he saw on their faces --awe, fear, shrinking horror -- and he knew that they were afraid ofhim. To them he was some terrible scourge they had never seen, ascourge even worse than the disease they had come to live with. He wasan invisible spectre who had left for evidence of his existence thebloodless bodies of their loved ones. And he understood what they feltand did not hate them. His right hand tightened on the tiny envelopeof pills. So long as the end did not come with violence, so long as itdid not have to be a butchery before their eyes...Robert Neville looked out over the new people of the earth. He knew hedid not belong to them; he knew that, like the vampires, he wasanathema and black terror to be destroyed. And, abruptly, the conceptcame, amusing to him even in his pain.A coughing chuckle filled his throat. He turned and leaned against thewall while he swallowed the pills. Full circle, he thought while thefinal lethargy crept into his limbs. Full circle. A new terror born indeath, a new superstition entering the unassailable fortress offorever.I am legend.”

“Then he went into the dining room, consulting his watch. It was ten thirty already. More than half the morning was gone. More than half the time for sitting and trying to write the prose that would make people sit up and gasp. It happened that way more often now than he would even admit to himself. Sleeping late, making up errands, doing anything to forestall the terrible moment when he must sit down before his typewriter and try to wrench some harvest from the growing desert of his mind. (“Mad House”)”