AoC

“Pity always was a luxury. It’s all right if the tragedy’s a comfortable distance away – if you can watch it from a seat in the cinema. It’s different when you find it on your doorstep – on every doorstep.”
― John Christopher, The Death of Grass

“Each smiled and nodded courteously, and each knew the other lied.”
― Robert E. Howard, Bran Mak Morn: The Last King

“Dresden, who was a king as of the old age, swished his tail--just once. Then, deliberately, he turned to face the coming dogs. Every muscle stood out in stark relief. He roared. The sound echoed down the street, bouncing off the neat suburban houses and well-manicured hedges with the force of dynamite. The dogs flowed at him like a tide, bottomless and unstoppable.

Dresden charged them.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“Far from being unnatural, as you call, it is commonplace when you have evil conditions. Poverty is more strong than morality. That’s another reason why for the world must submit to progress. Misery must be decreased before everyone will choke to death on it.”
― Brian W. Aldiss, The Malacia Tapestry