“This pain is comfort. It is the solace of physicality, like a touch.”

“Doing nothing was as honourable as any available course of action. Think of Hamlet, think of Job, think of Jesus before Pilate.”

“Suffering is inevitable. It is part of the human condition. It is written in the human script.”

“I may not be free, but Im not about to surrender the illusion of choice.”

“The future is certain. It is just not known.”

“I stare out at the real world projected on the windows”

“So who is cruel? You, cruel reader, you are.”

“Why is there ever this perverse cruelty in humankind, that makes us hurt most those we love best?”

“Cruel', O'Kelly laughed, 'it's cruel to tell children the truth. If anything convinces me of God's mercy, then it's his gift of making us unable to lie.”

“The most cruel and disobedient people will be saved, if there is one who would stand before God for His people”

“Denna is a wild thing," I explained. "Like a hind or a summer storm. If a storm blows down your house, or breaks a tree, you don't say the storm was mean. It was cruel. It acted according to its na...”

“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.”

“Cruelty and fear shake hands together. An unfulfilled vocation drains the color from a man's entire existence.”