Matthew Stover
American fantasy and science fiction novelist.
Life is mere chance only when one allows it to be.
It's customary, at times like this, to say a few words. A man shouldn't die with no understanding of why he's been murdered. I do not pride myself on my eloquence, and so I will keep this simple.
"...I suspect that pain means little to you as your life--but both your life and your pain are very important to me."
"The problem with happy endings," Tan'elkoth said, "is that nothing is ever truly over."
Caine was no longer the icon of evil, the Enemy of God, the author of all the world's ills. He had become simply what he was: a ruthless, amoral man, now beaten--crushed by the world, just like any other.
"Shit, kid, thinking about that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, like I just ate a kitten."
"I respect what is repectable," Tan'elkoth replied. "To ask for respect where none has been earned is childish maundering.And what is repectable, in the end, save service? Even your idol Jefferson is, in the end, measured by how well he served the species. The prize of individualism--its goal--is self-actualization, which is only another name for vanity. We do not admire men for achieving self-actualization; we admire self-actualization when its end result is a boon to humanity."