Matthew Hughes (writer)

“When all the good ideas have been expended, I quoted to myself, one might as well try a bad one.”

““Magic,” said my integrator, “has rules. At the heart of the willful, associative universe, we find a modicum of rationalism, just as we find uncertainty at the core of the rational cosmos.”“Exactly,” I said. “And there seems no other explanation for it than sheer perversity on the part of whatever entity is responsible for the whole untidy business.”I thought about it a moment more then said, “Perversity, or just a very idiosyncratic sense of humor.””

“When we have done more traveling together, you will come to see that occasionally we must be other than forthright with local authorities. Many of them lack imagination and react poorly to creativity and unexpected innovation.”

““There was no indication of anything sinister?”“No, though a truly sinister intrusion would be phrased in such a way as to appear not sinister.”“That is not reassuring,” I said.”

“It is as hugely irrelevant to us as the literary outpourings of a poet are to a bacterium living in his lower bowel. Indeed, to an even tinier mite living in the bacterium’s vacuole. It just doesn’t matter.”

“I realized that Chumblot’s brief had told only the official story which, as in many sophisticated societies, departed starkly from the practical facts.”

““Are you familiar with Wallader’s theory that every society is fundamentally organized around one or another of the cardinal sins?”“I believe not,” I said.“He argues that the true seed of every culture, whatever the ideals to which it gives lip service, always turns out to be one of the seven mortal iniquities identified by the ancients: pride, greed, and anger are the most common; lust, gluttony, and envy less so; those based on sloth usually do not last.””

“The insane had a tendency to cloak others in the strange garments they found hanging in the backs of their own mental wardrobes. So, for that matter, did the rest of us, but the consequences of error were usually less drastic.”

““Wealth tends to generate wealth,” he began.I gave a qualified assent. “If it does not instead give birth to folly.””

“I reflected that the genial glow that surrounds the doer of a good deed loses some of its warmth and brightness when the recipient meets every action with the pinched face of suspicion.”

“Half the miseries of humankind’s history have originated in those who think they see in the fellow next to them virtues and vices that exist only in the mind of the beholder.”

““Very well,” I said, “let us roll the pebble and get the avalanche on its way.””

““The likelihood seems farfetched.”“So have several of the situations in which we have found ourselves in the recent past,” I said.“But you are resolved to avoid those kinds of situations in the future.”I made a gesture ripe with fatalism. “I have come to understand that the universe accords my resolutions a good deal less consideration than I would prefer.””

“The combined effect of so many ambulatory sticks and balls, each of whom wore an expression of complete self-satisfaction, added strength to my longstanding belief that the profession of couturier required only a good knowledge of fabric and a malicious sense of humor.”

“My intent was to spot not only Massim Shar’s cut-out but the other member of his criminal coterie who would be there to watch our transaction. There might even be a watcher to watch the watcher, trust being a commodity in short supply among the lawless.””

“I had no doubt that there was madness here. How could it be otherwise in a cosmos that was ordered solely by will? It did not mean that the insane would automatically rise to the apex of the social order; their efforts would be diffused by the randomness of the impulses that drove them. But those whose extraordinary powers of will propelled them to the heights of power and rank would always be vulnerable to going further than they should. And there would be none but their equally mad rivals to restrain them.”

““I detected some quavers in his voice that indicated stress. But I would not say that he lied.”“Though it was not the whole truth.”“It never is. The ‘whole truth’ starts with the beginning of the world and its telling takes an inordinately long time.””

““Often, when a stranger says, ‘Trust me,’ a wise man puts his hand on his purse and backs away.””

““We should be frank with each other,” Lavelan said.It had been my experience that most conversations that were launched on such a declaration represented an attempt by the initiator to gain far more information than he intended to give.”

““You ask if anyone has ‘tested the concept.’ But why would anyone test reality? Reality is not for testing, but for living with.””