Lock In Quotes

“Making people change because you can’t deal with who they are isn’t how it’s supposed to be done. What needs to be done is for people to pull their heads out of their asses. You say ‘cure.’ I hear ‘you’re not human enough.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“Rich people show their appreciation through favors. When everyone you know has more money than they know what to do with, money stops being a useful transactional tool. So instead you offer favors. Deals. Quid pro quos. Things that involve personal involvement rather than money. Because when you're that rich, your personal time is your limiting factor.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“It's not an effective protest if it's not pissing people off.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“When you're a kid all you want to do is be somewhere else.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“I’ve been told my liminal space is like the dark of the grave. But I think of it as the dark from the other end of life entirely. The dark of everything ahead, not everything behind.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“Which is why Mom, when she’s being indiscreet, refers to the trophy room as the “vet’s office.” Because that’s where Dad brings people to take their balls.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“Did she tell you I set puppies on fire, too?” Vann asked. “She did not,” I said. “It may have been implied.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“Simply put, she was the one who had to put up with me. That she did so with love and patience and encouragement instead of strangling me, throwing my remains into a wood chipper, and then pretending she had never been married to me at all is a testament to the fact that she is, in fact, the single best person I know.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“She was old and crankily conservative in the way only old liberals could be.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“The diagnostic said there was nothing wrong with the threep, which may have meant there was something wrong with the diagnostic.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“Because this is what I learned about myself that first day: My body is my body. I don’t want anyone else in it. I don’t want someone else controlling it, or trying to. It’s my own little space in the world and the only space I have. And to have someone else in it, doing anything to it, sends me into a panic.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“I’m saying pay attention to when it makes sense to say something,” Vann said. “And pay attention to when it makes sense to hold it in for the moment. I get that you’re used to saying what you think to anyone, anytime. That comes from being an entitled rich kid.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“And also because I know if I’ve figured it out, someone else has too, because there’s always someone else smarter out there, who may not have ethics.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“Really really really difficult," Tony allowed. "But theoretically possible because, hey, it's a quantum physics universe.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“It’s not spam if you agree to it,” Tony said. “They just won’t have much of a choice.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“Rich people show their appreciation through favors,” I said. “When everyone you know has more money than they know what to do with, money stops being a useful transactional tool. So instead you offer favors. Deals. Quid pro quos. Things that involve personal involvement rather than money. Because when you’re that rich, your personal time is your limiting factor.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“She dropped dead mid-sentence, still pissy. On one hand, she really didn’t feel it, which I suppose isn’t a bad thing. On the other hand, well. I think it came as a surprise to her that she could die.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“That’s why you have a partner,” Vann said. “So you can vent at me. Afterward. Now, come on. Let’s get back to work.” “Where to now?” “I want to get a better look at that hotel room,” Vann said, and sucked on her cigarette. “Trinh hustled us through it pretty quickly. I’m ready for a slow dance.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“Making people change because you can't deal with who they are isn't how it's supposed to be done. What needs to be done is for people to pull their heads out of their asses.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“So far the FDA has only approved them for Hadens. But paraplegics and quadriplegics can benefit from threeps. So can other Americans with mobility issues. So can older Americans whose bodies are failing them in one way or another."
"The FDA has kept threeps to Haden's victims because jamming a second brain into your head is inherently dangerous," Buchold said. "You do it if you have no other choice."
"But everyone else should still _have_ that choice," Hubbard said.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“But then, the trophy room isn't for us. It's for everyone else. My father deals with millionaires and billionaires on a daily basis, the sort of people who have egos just this side (and sometimes way over the edge) of sociopathy. The sort of person who thinks he's the apex predator wading through a universe of sheep. Dad takes them into the trophy room and their eyes get to the size of dinner plates and they realize that whatever shit they've got going on is tiddlywinks compared to Dad. There are maybe three people in the world more interesting than Marcus Shane. They're not one of them.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“It’s not an effective protest if it’s not pissing people off.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“Then: “What time is it in Arizona?” “It’s two hours behind here, so about eight thirty,” I said. “Maybe. Arizona is weird about time zones.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“I love her more than I actually express in words—an irony for a writer—and am every day genuinely amazed I get to spend my life with her.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“You say ‘cure.’ I hear ‘you’re not human enough.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“I find it comforting,” Bell said. “It reminds me of the womb. They say we don’t remember what it is like to be there, but I don’t believe that. I think deep inside we always know. It’s why children burrow under blankets and cats push their heads into your elbow when they sit beside you. I’ve not had those experiences myself, but I know why they happen. I’ve been told my liminal space is like the dark of the grave. But I think of it as the dark from the other end of life entirely. The dark of everything ahead, not everything behind.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“Heads could be heavily customized, and a lot of younger Hadens did that. But for adults with serious jobs, that was déclassé, which was another clue to Schwartz’s likely social standing.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“Making people change because you can’t deal with who they are isn’t how it’s supposed to be done. What needs to be done is for people to pull their heads out of their asses.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“My father deals with millionaires and billionaires on a daily basis, the sort of people who have egos just this side (and sometimes way over the edge) of sociopathy. The sort of person who thinks he’s the apex predator wading through a universe of sheep.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In

“There are maybe three people in the world more interesting than Marcus Shane. They’re not one of them. Which is why Mom, when she’s being indiscreet, refers to the trophy room as the “vet’s office.” Because that’s where Dad brings people to take their balls.”
― John Scalzi, Lock In