“Sometimes, sitting here in the dark, slowly slowly creating strategy, she wondered if she was only fooling herself to think her plans were clever.”

“Sometimes the biggest disasters aren't noticed at all - no one's around to write horror stories.”

“Sometimes terror and pain are not the best levers; deception, when it works, is the most elegant and the least expensive manipulation of all.”

“Here we begin frank speculation. And since we are speculating, we'll use those powerful pseudo-laws, the Principles of Mediocrity and Minimal Assumption.”

“I never guessed I could cry so hard my face hurt.”

“The illusion of self-awareness. Happy automatons, running on trivial programs. I'll bet you never guess. From the inside, how can you?”

“One of his greatest talents was empathy; no sadist can aspire to perfection without that diagnostic ability.”