Epitaph

by Mary Doria Russell

“Raise your sights, sugar,” he advised as he walked toward the door. “Aim low? All you’ll hit are rats, snakes, and rock bottom.”

there are people—his brother among them—who can become so convinced of their own rendering of events that believing something is tantamount to proof. Arguing only makes them dig in deeper.

Crime is compounded by vengeance and brutality. The law and its strict enforcement are all that separate civilization from barbarism.

ANGER IS A HORSE THAT WOMAN CAN RIDE FOR DISTANCE.

The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion.’”

No one who does not live with constant pain can imagine the toll it takes. The way it grinds you down. The sheer damnable tedium of it.

Without justice, there is only revenge.”

“Old age takes people strange sometimes.”