"Eragon looked back at him, confused. 'I don't understand.'

'Of course you don't,' said Brom impatiently. 'That's why I'm teaching you and not the other way around....'"
— Christopher Paolini (Eragon)

"That's what I like to call him, "the current president." I find it difficult to say or type his name, George W. Bush. I like to call him "the current president" because it's a hopeful phrase, implying that his administration is only temporary."
— Sarah Vowell (Assassination Vacation)

"He claimed that nearby gun thunder cleared the mind - but most everybody else agreed it made you daft."
— Vernor Vinge (A Fire Upon The Deep)

"For a short while she considered the idea of orchestral courtesy. Certainly one should avoid giving political offence: German orchestras, of course, used to be careful about playing Wagner abroad, at least in some countries, choosing instead German composers who were somewhat more ... apologetic."
— Alexander McCall Smith (The Sunday Philosophy Club)

"But he'll never be fully recognised, because Scots literature these days is all about complaining and moaning and being injured in one's soul."
— Alexander McCall Smith (The Sunday Philosophy Club)

"She was made for untidy rooms and rumpled beds."
— Alexander McCall Smith (The Sunday Philosophy Club)

""Do you realise that people die of boredom in London suburbs? It's the second biggest cause of death amongs the English in general. Sheer boredom...""
— Alexander McCall Smith (Friends, Lovers, Chocolate)

"We are Bay Aryans from Berkeley: prepare to be reengineered in an attractive range of color schemes for your safety and comfort!"
— Charles Stross (On Her Majesty's Occult Service)

"When I say or write something, there are actually a whole lot of different things I am communicating. The propositional content (i.e., the verbal information I'm trying to convey) is only one part of it. Another part is stuff about me, the communicator. Everyone knows this. It's a function of the fact there are so many different well-formed ways to say the same basic thing, from e.g. "I was attacked by a bear!" to "Goddamn bear tried to kill me!" to "That ursine juggernaut did essay to sup upon my person!" and so on."
"
— David Foster Wallace (Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays)

""You're in America now," I said. "Our idea of diplomacy is showing up with a gun in one hand and a sandwich in the other and asking which you'd prefer.""
— Jim Butcher (Turn Coat)

"Every hundred feet the world changes"
— Roberto Bolaño (2666)

"I'll just tell you what I remember because memory is as close as I've gotten to building my own time machine."
— Samantha Hunt (The Invention of Everything Else)

"If one cannot learn from the mistakes of others, one might as well become a Democrat."
— Esther M. Friesner (My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding)