God has planned the world too perfectly for me to doubt that everyone is where they are supposed to be. Thomm Quackenbush

Making love, sensing how he felt about her in the high tide of passion, seeing herself through his eyes, brought her to an ecstasy beyond words. Thomm Quackenbush

Owing to thousands of generations of over-justification bred into them to keep from the maddening awareness of the true composition of the world, people had a tendency to give themselves the freedom to do whatever Shane told them, as long as it did not conflict too much with their self-preservation. Thomm Quackenbush

In an electroencephalogram… one of her seizures was almost identical to an orgasm.. Nothing happened during a seizure that couldn’t happen outside one, except that Roselyn was not in control of it and it happened all at once. Since then, she had experienced hundreds of orgasms and dozens of seizures and, though she didn’t come close to finding the latter nearly as entertaining as the former, it was always in her mind. In the midst of Dryden’s often machine gun lovemaking or her own considerably more directed and soft ministrations, it was always in the back of her mind at the moment of climax–this is a tenth of a seizure, this is a fifth of one. . Thomm Quackenbush

They ignored her because of their headphones, a thousand people marching to fifteen hundred different drummers, effectively secluded but for a very basic instinct not to bump into one another. Those that were unplugged rushed from place to place and were never actually anywhere other than “somewhere else. Thomm Quackenbush

Words could be quite enough for magic to occur, when the night was warm enough and the moon waxing. Thomm Quackenbush

The boys he met at Annandale only understood one kind of woman. They needed to be coddled and cooed over as their own mothers had done their whole lives. Thomm Quackenbush

Men could be utter pussycats when they had even a touch of the sniffles. Thomm Quackenbush

Though Queen Victoria in England had suggested that makeup was impolite, even vanity, Gideon saw it as yet another weapon. It was not so different from magic. Thomm Quackenbush

[H]e had heard of, but given little credence to, magic. There was always someone talking of folk remedies and charms, but it seemed to him the inclination of fools misunderstanding chance. Thomm Quackenbush

Do you know the amount of evil done by well-meaning humans? Oodles. Do you know the amount done by ill-meaning devils? Infinitesimal. Thomm Quackenbush

You can’t exist on this plane for long purely one thing or another. A totally evil creature is so destructive that it obliterates itself. A totally good one… the same. So, we mix a bit of coffee with our cream. Thomm Quackenbush

He never thought he was right. The horror of all that had died under his will had become mundane to him. You see, the first horror is the horror itself. The real horror for him was accepting it as necessary. Thomm Quackenbush

She felt that “truthful” and “honest” were two very different concepts. She could truthfully say that she hadn’t eaten Roselyn’s Chinese leftovers, but that wasn’t honest because it omitted that Eliot did and that Shane did not object. Thomm Quackenbush

My life of sin among people I’m sure he thinks are deviants is happier and more honest that his oppressive, sexist cesspool. Thomm Quackenbush

A college provides a means of accrediting and laundering one’s existence, so that what was may be forgotten under the weight of something far more mundane. Thomm Quackenbush

Love and poor parenting are acceptable topics for any formal meal I make. Thomm Quackenbush

She sat in the silence that resulted in the absence of her words, feeling unburdened but not absolved. Thomm Quackenbush

No divinity worth His salt could be contained in a book. Thomm Quackenbush

Think about the whole Biblical story of Mary. She wakes up and sees something with a lion, eagle, and human face that wants to inseminate her with the Holy Seed. She’s practically a saint just for not killing herself on the spot. Thomm Quackenbush