“They thrived on the rapid turnover of acquaintances, the lack of involvement with others, and the total self-sufficiency of lives which, needing nothing, were never dissapointed.”

“the run-down nature of the high-rise was a model of the world into which the future was carrying them, a landscape beyond technology where everything was either derelict or more ambiguously recombi...”

“In effect, the apartment block was a small vertical city, its two thousand inhabitants boxed up into the sky.j.g.”

“First she would try to kill him, but failing this give him food and her body, breast-feed him back to a state of childishness and even, perhaps, feel affection for him. Then, the moment he was asle...”

“Even their insistence on educating their children, the last reflex of any exploited group before it sank into submission, marked the end of their resistance.”

“Togetherness is beating up an empty elevator.”

“First she would try to kill him, but failing this give him food and her body, breast-feed him back to a state of childishness and even, perhaps, feel affection for him. Then, the moment he was asle...”

“Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those languages, or we remain mute.”

“Dissembling was so large a part of middle-class life that honesty and frankness seemed the most devious stratagem of all. The most outright lie was the closest one came to truth.”

“It's better to be loved than feared, but if you can't be loved, then fear will do.-Dino quoting Machiavelli”

“Something bad was about to happen. My wife was being clever again.”

“I am often thought of as being remarkably bright, and yet my brains, more often than not, are busily devising new and interesting ways of bringing my enemies to sudden, gagging, writhing, agonizing...”

“You will suffer, son of Hades! What else is new? Nico thought.”

“How was your afternoon?"No one died, so it was a big improvement on my morning.”

“The light and the stars guide my way.”