Stephenson has a once-in-a-generation gift: he makes…

“I study dead languages for a living,” I said. “That’s why you hired me. Why should I be up to speed on your line…

— Neal Stephenson

“Other people - store clerks, burger flippers, software engineers, the whole vocabulary of meaningless jobs that make up Life in America - other people…

— Neal Stephenson

“It is what you don’t expect,” he’d said, “that most needs looking for.” “Do”

— Neal Stephenson

“...the insects here see you as a big slab of animated but not very well defended food. The ability to move, far from being…

— Neal Stephenson

“There was no way that these guys were going to let a bleeding, barefoot woman simply wander off alone into the streets. Two of…

— Neal Stephenson

“Space and Time! Two minor omissions that no one is likely to notice," grumbled Newton.”

— Neal Stephenson

See, the world is full of things more powerful than us. But if you know how to catch a ride, you can go places,

— Neal Stephenson

“Hey,” Shaftoe says, “if we surrender to you, you’ll kill us. Right?” “Yes.” “If you guys surrender to us, we won’t kill you. Promise.…

— Neal Stephenson

“My men think you are dead now, and won’t waste balls on you,” Jack said. “In fact I have let you live, but for…

— Neal Stephenson

“You’ve probably heard the expression that the Industry feeds off of biomass, like a whale straining krill from the ocean.”

— Neal Stephenson

“The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed subcategory. He’s got esprit up to here. Right now, he is preparing to carry out…

— Neal Stephenson

Interesting things happen along borders - transitions - not in the middle where everything is the same.

— Neal Stephenson

“and people could only make sense of complicated matters through stories. Likewise”

— Neal Stephenson

“Van Eck phreaking,”

— Neal Stephenson

“When the Deliverator puts the hammer down, shit happens.”

— Neal Stephenson