“Central Wyoming was like hell without the flames, an underworld thrust up onto the surface.”

“Our faith was a flickering flame.”

“Overpopulation has a ceiling: earth’s total surface area divided by the dimensions of one economy seat. One more baby is born and hello cannibalism.”

“Literature had torn Tessa and me apart, or prevented us from merging in the first place. That was its role in the world, I'd started to fear: to conjure up disagreements that didn't matter and inspire people to act on them as though they mattered more than anything. Without literature, humans would all be one. Warfare was simply literature in arms. The pen was the reason man invented the sword.”

“I could see tall ideas standing up behind his eyes.”

“I feel like my head is finally the right size. I feel like it finally fits around my mind.”

“It looked like just the sort of family Americans dream of having: dumb and loving.”