The Institute

by Stephen King

‘You know, Jamieson, this life we think we’re living isn’t real. It’s just a shadow play, and I for one will be glad when the lights go out on it. In the dark, all the shadows disappear.’

He was only twelve, and understood that his experience of the world was limited, but one thing he was quite sure of: when someone said trust me, they were usually lying through their teeth.

Hope was such a fine word, such a fine thing to feel.

you had to have been imprisoned to fully understand what freedom was.

She thought about entropy. The tendency to coast when things were going well.

It was so simple, but it was a revelation: what you did for yourself was what gave you the power.