The fifty-five-mile-per-hour speed limit, the unreliable cars that had been reconfigured to meet fuel efficiency standards, the constant reminders not to be “fuelish” served as reminders that one of America's oldest freedoms—the freedom to waste—had been severely curtailed.

He is the scientist, not as particularizer and detailist, but as the forceful synthesizer of a truly vast amount of apparently unrelated objects, events, and structures.

At first, when the Apollonians converged on her, Mary Theresa thought she had made a major mistake by going to the battle.

[…] idiots in this case of favour would Be wisely definite