Status Updates From Ex Machina, Book Five

""THIS IS OUR HOME, BUT AS MUCH AS I LOVE IT, AS MUCH AS MUCH AS I LOVE YOU...NEW YORK ISN'T WHERE MY STORY ENDS.""

""CHOICE IS JUST ILLUSION POWERFUL CREATE TO MAKE THE WEAK THINK THEY ARE NOT.""

""NOW WHY DON'T YOU FUCK ON BACK TO WHICHEVER LAME "MIRROR UNIVERSE" YOU CAME FROM AND LET ME GET SOME SLEEP?"

"BECAUSE I'M NOT YOUR REFLECTION, MITCHELL. I AM HE AS YOU ARE HE AS YOU ARE ME...AND WE ARE ALL TOGETHER.""

""WHEN I TURNED FORTY LAST YEAR, ALL I COULD THINK WAS, MAYBE I'VE LIVED TOO LONG. I MEAN, THERE'S A REASON MOST OF THE PEOPLE WE ADMIRE DIED YOUNG...THEY NEVER GOT A CHANCE TO FUCK EVERYTHING UP.""

"THOUGH WE CAN NEVER GUARANTEE OUR PEOPLE COMPLETE SAFETY, WE CAN SEND A MESSAGE TO THOSE WHO SEEK TO HARM THE FREE AND THE BRAVE. YOU MIGHT KNOCK US TO THE GROUND...BUT YOU SURE AS HELL WON'T KEED US THERE."

""STILL, I'M SORRY. FOR EVERYTHING. HARD TO BELIEVE A FEW DAYS AGO YOU AND I WERE HAMMER AND TONGS AMMER AND TON OVER SOMETHING AS PETTY AS A FEW HORMONE PILLS."

"BUT IT'S NOT PETTY. THINKING ABOUT CRAP LIKE THAT IS WHAT GOVERNMENT DOES BEST. IT'S THE UNTHINKABLE WE ALWAYS FUCK UP.""

""CHRIST, LISTEN TO ME. WHINING ABOUT A FEW CHARRED PHOTO ALBUMS AFTER WHAT YOU LOST.”

"I APPRECIATE THAT, BUT TRAGEDY ISN'T A COMPETITION.""

""TYPICAL POLITICIAN. ALWAYS RUNNING...NEVER GETTING ANYWHERE.""

""BUT IN THE REAL WORLD, THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A NEVER-ENDING BATTLE, IS THERE? SOONER OR LATER, SOMEBODY WINS. AND EVERYBODY ELSE LOSES.""

""THAT'S WHY I LIKE SUPERHERO BOOKS. MONTH AFTER MONTH, THEY JUST KEEP GOING. SO NO MATTER WHAT TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPEN, YOU KNOW THERE'LL ALWAYS BE ANOTHER CHANCE FOR WRONGS TO GET RIGHTED. IT'S LIKE, WITHOUT A LAST ACT, THOSE STORIES NEVER GET TO BECOME TRAGEDIES. I GUESS THAT'S WHY THEY CALL 'EM COMICS.""

""IF YOU FOLLOW ANY STORY TO ITS REAL CONCLUSION, YOU ALWAYS GET THE SAME THING. REGRET. PAIN. LOSS.""

""HAPPY ENDINGS ARE BULLSHIT. THERE ARE ONLY HAPPY PAUSES.""

""I'M A POLITICIAN SUZANNE. I LIE.""

""THIN LINE BETWEEN CREATION AND DESTRUCTION, I GUESS.""

"I'VE GOT NO PROBLEM WITH THE DERRING-DO, JOURNAL. IT JUST SKEEVES ME OUT WHENEVER A DUDE TRIES TO PARLAY ANY KIND OF SUCCESS INTO A POLITICAL CAREER.

THERE'S ONLY ONE REASON GUYS LIKE THAT GET INTO GOVERNMENT. IT STARTS WITH THE LETTER "P" AND RHYMES WITH "PUSSY.""

"GREAT MACHINE IS SUPPOSED TO INSPIRE PEOPLE, LIKE COMIC- BOOK HERO. PRIMARY COLORS! SECONDARY COLORS ARE FOR VILLAINS!"

"TAKES A REAL MASTER OF SPIN TO MAKE CLEARING YOUR OWN NAME SOUND ALTRUISTIC."

"HE'S CONSTANTLY TRYING TO... TO IMPOSE ORDER ON AN INHERENTLY CHAOTIC WORLD, LIKE THE ASEXUAL FANBOYS WHO OBSESS ABOUT CONTINUITY MISTAKES IN BAD SCI-FI SHOWS. HE'S ALWAYS GOT SOME EMINENTLY PRAGMATIC BLANKET SOLUTION FOR A WORLD THAT'S COMPLEX AND IRRATIONAL AND... AND HUMAN."

"I WANT OUR POWER TO BE CHEAP AND I WANT IT TO BE CLEAN, AND THAT MEANS ADDING WIND TURBINES TO EVERY BRIDGE AND SKYSCRAPER THAT CAN SUPPORT THEM.

IF UGLY-ASS OLD WOODEN LD WOODEN WATER TOWERS COULD BECOME AN AN ICONIC PART OF OUR TWENTIETH-CENTURY SKYLINE, THERE'S NO REASON THAT THESE SLEEK, BEAUTIFUL MACHINES CAN'T BE THE TOUCHSTONES OF THE TWENTY-FIRST."

"YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT MAKES EVERY- THING IN THIS WORLD TICK...EXCEPT YOURSELF. THAT'S WHAT THEY CALL A FATAL FLAW."

""YOU GOTTA TARGET THE NEW ONES. FOLKS LIVE IN THIS CITY LONG ENOUGH, PEOPLE LIKE ME AND YOU BECOME GRAFFITI, JUST AN EYESORE THEY LEARN TO IGNORE. BUT THAT TAKES TIME, SEE. THE FIRST COUPLE OF YEARS, WE'RE STILL REAL TO THEM.""

""IT IS NOT VERY UNREASONABLE THAT THE RICH SHOULD CONTRIBUTE TO THE PUBLIC EXPENSE, NOT ONLY IN PROPORTION TO THEIR REVENUE, BUT SOMETHING MORE THAN IN THAT PROPORTION. THAT'S NOT KARL MARX, IT'S ADAM SMITH, THE FATHER OF CAPITALISM, A SYSTEM I HAPPEN TO FIRMLY BELIEVE IN... NO MATTER WHAT WILLIAM KRISTOL MAY WRITE ABOUT ME.""