They don’t last long. It's horrible and filled with more pain and misery than a full life can hold, but it's rarely a long time. The treatment is too rough and too careless, and they are so fragile.

He was like a farmer's hammer, beaten and bent, and broken more than once, but welded back, bent by force of will back into place, still useful because it still could be made useful.

Kids are expert negotiators. When you've never had a job and have no income, you'd better be a good negotiator.

People don't realize how thoroughly we teach children to read deception. As soon as they get the basics of communication, adults and older kids start telling them unbelievable things, trying to make them seem believable. As if we know how important the ability to see through other people's lies is critically important. I guess, it is.

You'll be the first human to see an entire alien civilization. The bad news being that you won't be able to actually do anything or speak with anyone. You'll just be ignored and alone, like a headache—something to be pushed aside and forgotten.

Wearing an alien form inside the alien flightsuit, Leo stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon and marveled, slowly shaking his head in disbelief and wonder. He stared into the impossible without considering the miracle of his own existence, like everyone else.

First thing Falvo said after he slapped my arm was, 'What time is it?' I've been with a few other people who wake up after getting shot and being dug around in for a slug. That's the first time anyone ever asked that particular question, like they had something important to attend to and happened to get shot on the way.

Just driving around looking for him is not going to help. We might as well go back and wait on the porch for news as drive around. You're only going to see yards that're neglected and filled with old cars out there. They could kidnap an elephant from the zoo and be dressed like circus clowns with it in the basement and you'd drive past without noticing anything unusual.

People looked at a knife a lot differently than they'd look at stunners. A knife can get someone's attention when you want it.