The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam, #2)

by Margaret Atwood

Ours is a fall into greed: why do we think that everything on Earth belongs to us, while in reality we belong to Everything?

Why do we want other people to like us, even if we don’t really care about them all that much? I don’t know why, but it’s true.

“Are you sure you’re better?” she asked. “I’m fine,” said Pilar, “for the moment. And the moment is the only time we can be fine in.

She knew more now, however. As with all knowledge, once you knew it, you couldn’t imagine how it was that you hadn’t known it before. Like stage magic, knowledge before you knew it took place before your very eyes, but you were looking elsewhere.

A spirited debate then took place concerning the disposal of Burt’s body. Burt had been an Adam, said Rebecca: he deserved to be illegally composted in the Heritage Park, like any other Adam or Eve.