Revisionary

Judge not, lest ye be punched in the face for being a self-righteous prick.

“Are you a doctor?”

“Better. I’m a librarian.”

Human ignorance has never needed help.

You don’t do what’s right because you know it will work out. You do it because you know it’s right.

The nice thing about people like Jellybean Man was that I knew exactly where I stood. There was no subtlety, no subterfuge or second-guessing. It was a refreshing change from talking to politicians.

“Your fear is all too human. Accept it, but as you walk this path, let your hope guide you.”

“And what if hope guides me off the edge of a cliff?”

“I said let hope guide you. I never said stop paying attention to where you’re going.”

If there ever comes a day when I deliberately embrace ignorance, I’ll have lived one day too long.

History is the world’s most egotistical gossip.

You want to know if it was worth it. I can’t answer that, Isaac. We can know what was, but not what might have been.

This would be an excellent time for you to shut up.

She didn’t argue. That, more than anything else, told me she hadn’t fully recovered from everything she’d been through. A year ago, she would have argued with me on principle, secure in her teenage sense of immortality and invulnerability.

“It’s not going to come to that,” I said.

“Nobody ever believes it will,” so the driver. “That’s why it does.”

Hon, nobody eats fried chicken because it’s good for them.

“Hey, I’m just playing devil’s advocate.”

“Since when did the devil need your help?”

Change is a difficult, often violent process, both for individuals and for whole species. The more rapidly change, the uglier the conflict.

I knew the one thing that truly mattered. I knew it could be done.

“Damn, Boss. See, this is why everyone likes it better when you’re away on your road trips.”

“Don’t call me Boss. Also, staff meeting upstairs in the Wheeler room in 30 minutes.”

“That’s cold, Boss. What did we do to deserve that?”

“Keep it up, and I’ll make you sit through a PowerPoint presentation.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “Cruel and unusual punishment.”

Young Isaac had dreamed of fame.

Young Isaac was an idiot.

“You mean you just let him go?”

“What did you want me to do?” I snapped. “Castrate him on the spot? Execute him?”

“Both. Both is good.”

“That’s…that’s magic.”

“Pretty cool, isn’t it? If I had more time, I’d tell you how it worked.”

“He would,” Lena said. “Even if you ask him to stop.”