10 Quotes by Allison M. Dickson

He was too damn old to run now, too tired of that romantic idea of freedom that infected the heads of the young and later killed most of them with crushing disappointment. The Cassinis had always made sure he was just comfortable enough to want to sit tight and not risk the generosities they’d afforded him, and the older he got, the more comfortable he became. Comfort had a way of killing the romance in just about everybody.

I've tried to explain to people that I don't 'love' writing any more than I 'love' breathing. It's something I do and it's something I need. If I thought about it as a love/hate thing, I probably would have quit long ago. And then died.

I guess God decided we weren’t much worth saving this time. He probably gave up on His creation the way you give up a piece of burnt toast when you can’t scrape off enough of the black stuff.

Already I could feel my mind detaching, going to a place to protect itself from the warhead that was about to go off in my heart. It wasn’t at all unlike how I dealt with Linny’s death, only this was worse. I was trying to escape the pain, then. This time, I was also outrunning madness.

Over time, the illusion has begun to wear off, and the illusion of a feast most illustrious has now given way to the depressing banality of the inedible tripe beneath.

It was limitless, so beautiful and pure and free. I reached out and felt a soft, invisible give, as if the light itself was a malleable force. Ethereal putty.

Their solemn eyes told more stories than I had years to hear.

They were secret, dark wishes, the kind of thing a person only pulls out when they’re too busy not appreciating how lucky they are.

Most of these people had lived here their whole lives. Others had lived in the Cradle, being starved and tortured day after day. All had suffered, and they craved hope just as they craved any other nourishment.