Absolution is not the same as understanding.

— Justin Cronin

All stories end when they have returned to their beginnings.

— Justin Cronin

All things fell into the past but one; and what that was, was love.

— Justin Cronin

All things found their ends.

— Justin Cronin

And I grew up on a steady diet of science fiction, especially apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction.

— Justin Cronin

And then, despite all these concerns, Annette felt her mind begin to loosen, the images of the day unwinding inside her like a spool of thread, pulling her down into sleep.

— Justin Cronin

Behind every great hatred is a love story.

— Justin Cronin

Behind every great hatred is a love story. For I am a man who has known and tasted love. I say “a man” because that is how I know myself. Look at me, and what do you see? Do I not take the form of a man? Do I not feel as you do, suffer as you do, love as you do, mourn as you do? What is the essence of a man, if not these things?

— Justin Cronin

Below lies the dark core, that great iron ball beneath all things. Its compressed weight is fantastic; it is older than time itself. It is a vestige of the blackness that predates all existence, when a formless universe existed in a state of chaotic creation, lacking awareness even of itself.

— Justin Cronin

But I suppose it's part of being old to feel that way, half in one world and half in the other, all of it mixed together in my mind. No one's left who even knows my name. Folks call me Auntie, on account of I never could have children of my own, and I guess that suits me fine. Sometimes it's like I've got so many people inside of me I'm never alone at all. And when I go, I'll be taking them with me.

— Justin Cronin