Цитаты из книги Zero Sum Game

Rio... Rio came into this world not quite right. He doesn`t feel emotion the way other people do. Doesn`t empathize. He honestly does not care about other people. The one thing that drives him is inflicting pain. He craves it. He needs it. Some people are born for certain careers in this world; Rio`s talents mold him to…

I wasn`t used to having friends. Friends meant obligations, and complications, and effort— And people who checked in on me, another part of my brain pointed out. And had my back. And could watch for signs of psychic brainwashing. Huh.

"Ends justify the means, then?" "What? Hey, whoa, trick question!" "No," I said. "It`s not." Checker frowned, considering. "You`re right," he said finally. "You think you should always say 'no,' to that, don`t you? The saying? You say no, the ends don`t justify the means. Except — when you`re actually face with the…

"It`s a zero sum game. We take out one monster, the other rises up." "It`s not zero sum," I corrected. "If that were true, taking out the drug cartels would increase Pithica`s power, not the other way around." "Stop being accurate when I`m trying to be dramatic," Checker groused.

"It`s down to us," I said. "I was afraid you were going to say that," said Checker. "Chin up," I told him. "We`re very smart."

The message was from Anton. All I could do was stare at it. The secodns ticked by, and I still stared. Fist of all, Anotn never sent email. Despite being a professional information broker and probably owning more computers than I had guns, he had been something of a Luddite when it came to living in the modern world. He…

Rio believed in God and also believed that he was going to go straight to hell?" But you..." Words failed me. "Do not think me such a tragic figure, Cas. I am too weak to my baser desires. The least I can do is use them to do God`s work." I was stunned. Not that I believed in heaven or hell myself, but the fact that Rio…

"Cas, the Lord could force us all to peace and righteousness if He wished to. Our world would have no war, no pain. Instead, He gave us free will." Huh. That wasn`t a bad way of looking at it. "But you could argue that Dawna`s using her free will," I pointed out. "Even if it`s to take away other people`s." "And like all…

"It is much more difficult to apply logic to morality than you sometimes believe it to be." "That`s stupid," I muttered, but without any vitriol, and without any real belief behind the words. "You should be able to axiomitize everything. How else can you know right from wrong?"

"Rio," I slurred. "You`re a good friend." "I`m not your friend, Cas," he said quietly. "You know that. Don`t ever think otherwise." I did know. Friends cared about you. But friends also knew you well enough to communicate without words, and did things like save yoru life and then stay by your side and take care of you…