“But as with Maxwell's Demon, so now. Either she could not communicate, or he did not exist.”

“They all said that they could not do it either, but they did; that is what made them so great. They did not believe in their own worth either, not one of those men thought that he was the right man for the throne, but that was their greatness: that they did not believe themselves to be so high.”

“She smiled. She knew she was dying. But it did not matter any longer. She had known something which no human words could ever tell and she knew it now. She had been awaiting it and she felt it, as if it had been, as if she had lived it. Life had been, if only because she had known it could be, and she felt it now as a hymn without sound, deep under the little whole that dripped red drops into the snow, deeper than that from which the red drops came. A moment or an eternity- did it matter? Life, undefeated, existed and could exist. She smiled, her last smile, to so much that had been possible.”

“But if you can confront your inner demons—""I did confront my inner demon. I punched him in the face and he exploded."Valkyrie had to laugh. "But now he's back.""Of course he's back. He's resourceful. He is my inner demon, after all.”

“Maybe the idea was that he could write so many letters, deliver so many envelopes back to Sandy, eventually he'd have sent all of himself, and could exist more there than he did here.”

“She did not especially appreciate children either, but could be kind to them when they were silent.”