She glanced at him. “What gods do you respect?” “None.” “And why not?” “I help myself,” he said. — Octavia E. Butler

Short-lived people, people who could die, did not know what enemies loneliness and boredom could be.

He was surprised when I ignored him. He is wealthy and arrogant and used to being listened to even when what he says is nonsense—as it often is.

She was too alert, too alive not to have the kind of mind that probed and reached and got her into trouble now and then.