“Nothing made me happen. I happened.”

“I am the dragon, and you call me insane.”

“Nothing makes us more vulnerable than loneliness except greed.”

“I expect most psychiatrists have a patient or two they'd like to refer to me.”

“A census taker tried to quantify me once. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a big Amarone. Go back to school, little Starling.”

“And then, the last words Raspail ever said: 'I wonder why my parents didn't kill me before I was old enough to fool them.'The slender handle of the stiletto wiggled as Raspail's spiked heart tried to keep beating, and Dr Lecter said, 'Looks like a straw down a doodlebug hole, doesn't it?' but it was too late for Raspail to answer.”

“In her way, she was a hard one. Faith in any sort of natural justice was nothing but a night light; she knew of that. Whatever she did, she would end the same way with everyone does: flat on her back with a tube in her nose, wondering, "Is this all?”