The best advice Alice ever got was to never follow anyone's advice.

The empty page was still better than a full day.

She was lost on a sea of her own making.

The government refused to allow the huddled masses to breath free, citing costs.

The voices he heard were only his own echoes from his useless screaming in the desolate valley.

The Gods laughed at our tears.

There was nothing finer than a clean bill of health to Brad because it meant he could continue with his self-destructive lifestyle.

The bleakest night threatened to hijack the rest of his life.

The point of no return was where Pamela felt happiest.

What had once come easily became a Sisyphean struggle, still better than a Promethean end.

She put one sentence after the next and eventually a new world emerged.

Will was able to con his way into a job he wasn't qualified for and proudly thought he was just like the president.

Friendship was the flagship of her being.

Desire was derailed by fear that was sidelined by fate ending in a life that was as good as could be hoped for.

Facing facts had become nearly impossible thanks to the Russians.

If life was a numbers game, Brad's math skills were going to land him in an early grave.

Genius was no excuse for being an asshole, in Ed's opinion.

We'd become addicted to entertainment, the only flotsam left to cling to in this shipwreck of a world.

Life often got in the way of living.

Hatred only took Harold so far.

It was our fate never to be satisfied with what we were given and to thirst for the wine just out of reach.

The sun set on another day spent wrestling with an ever-present past and worrying over an uncertain future.

Time managed to mellow his bitter memories but not his desire for revenge, which deepened in color, flavor and texture like whiskey in an oak cask.

In the moment of terrible pain she imagined herself in the future looking back through the hazy lens of memory.

Nothing is more inspiring than a terrible situation.

As he got older he began to prefer the honest company of dogs above all else.

The cats bided their time until their owners drifted off to sleep.

The desperate hours before sunrise were her shark-infested waters.

The cry of the gulls was like a triumphant trumpet blast welcoming him home.