Matt Hughes

Quotes

1. “Often, when a stranger says, ‘Trust me,’ a wise man puts his hand on his purse and backs away.”

   p. 99

2. 

   “Then how is it done?”

   “By magic, I suppose. How else?”

   “That is a foolish and flippant answer,” he said. “‘Oh, it’s magic,’ is not a handy solution to every mystery. I am not the child.”

   p. 181

3. 

   The combined effect of so many ambulatory sticks and balls, each of whom wore an expression of complete self-satisfaction, added strength to my longstanding belief that the profession of couturier required only a good knowledge of fabric and a malicious sense of humor.

   p. 9

4. 

   I might have been lulled by her show of confidence, had I not commanded a fact or two about spaceships. “A Grand Itinerator compares to an Aberrator as does a mansion to a country cottage,” I said.

   “It is a matter of point of view,” she argued. “It depends on whether one concentrates on differences or congruencies. Being of a broad and generous spirit, I prefer the latter perspective. You may be the type who niggles.”

   p. 29

5. 

   Persons who disguise themselves when they go out into the world rarely do so for innocent purposes. At best, they mean to pull some merry prank; all too often, they intend a considerably deeper mischief.

   p. 36

6. 

   My intent was to spot not only Massim Shar’s cut-out but the other member of his criminal coterie who would be there to watch our transaction. There might even be a watcher to watch the watcher, trust being a commodity in short supply among the lawless.”

   p. 8

7. 

   “There was no indication of anything sinister?”

   “No, though a truly sinister intrusion would be phrased in such a way as to appear not sinister.”

   “That is not reassuring,” I said.

   p. 107

8. 

   “Very well,” I said, “let us roll the pebble and get the avalanche on its way.”

   p. 38

9. 

   “You’re worried, aren’t you?” he said.

   “Again, you have chosen a word not large enough to cover more than the barest fraction of the situation.”

   p. 55

10. 

    “Then you will have to look at an experienced integrator.”

    “You mean a used and discarded one.”

    “We could quibble over narrow distinctions and shades of meaning all day, only to greet the evening with nothing accomplished. Or we could press on and solve your problem.”

    p. 28

11. 

    Half the miseries of humankind’s history have originated in those who think they see in the fellow next to them virtues and vices that exist only in the mind of the beholder.

    p. 48

12. 

    When the Wheel turns, much that is impossible in the old phase becomes commonplace in the new.

    p. 172