“Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.”

“Pity they didn’t devote a little more ingenuity to staying alive rather than conducting mass slaughter as efficiently as possible.”

“I prefer to stay alive and be criticized than be sympathized.”

“Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.”

“If you end your story, it's a static work of art, a finite circle. But if you don't, it belongs to anyone's imagination. It stays alive forever.”

“Be private and stay low-key, remember there is no need to tell the crowds more than they need to know. Because they can't mess with what they don't know.”

“God is the only being who need not even exist in order to reign.Whatever is created by the spirit is more alive than matter.”

“Killing people is easier than it should be.” Dad put on his beret. “Staying alive is harder.”

“Imagine being sentient but not alive. Seeing and even knowing, but not alive. Just looking out. Recognizing but not being alive. A person can die and still go on. Sometimes what looks out at you from a person's eyes maybe died back in childhood.”

“There are some four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. Four million different solutions to the problems of staying alive. This is the story of how a few of them came to be as they are.”