The Impossible Fortress Quotes
"To keep Alf and Clark from coming around my house, I said I was grounded for bad grades."
"I worked on the code all night, and spent my days editing printouts during class."
"In a moment of desperation, I even vacuumed the crevices of my keyboard, on the off chance that dust was slowing the circuitry."
"The little lion barked a warning—a series of short high-pitched chirps."
"The worst part is, your code’s perfect. There’s not a single wasted command."
"It’s like saying, 'We don’t need to learn all of Mandarin Chinese. We just need to learn enough to translate the Gettysburg Address.'"
"I don’t want to brag, but I did load a couple bytes into her accumulator."
"Actions have consequences! If you don’t beat the cream, Mrs. Marvin, how do you expect it to froth?"
"I’m going to make video games. I’m going to start my own company, and I’ll only hire cool people."
"I ran to the old oak on the far side of the cemetery, a tree that functioned as our headquarters until we were too cool to climb trees."
"This wasn’t my fault. That’s what I told myself."
"Books were written by Writers and edited by Editors. They were created by smart, educated professionals who triple-checked everything before the text was printed."
"I knew that something extraordinary was happening and I didn’t have a name for it yet."
"We created a victory screen for players who rescued the princess before the timer ran out; the hero and the princess hopped up and down, dancing to the chorus of Wang Chung’s 'Everybody Have Fun Tonight.'"
"But I had to do something. I worried that if I kept looking at the screen, I might start to cry."
"I’d lived with it so long, I stopped noticing it."
"But once outside we realized we had no place to go."
"All I heard were chirping crickets and the soft shuffle of my sneakers."
"You don’t have to make it, we brought a bridge, remember?"
"I wanted to explain all of this to Alf and Clark, but even talking seemed too dangerous."
"You feel bad about what happened?" "Yes." "Because we trashed the store?" "Yes." "We ruined everything?" "Yes." "And now Mary hates you." "Yes." "And her father hates you." "Yes." "And you like this girl." "Shut up," I told him.
"I guess you’re right," Clark sighed. "Thanks," I said, pushing away my tray because I’d lost my appetite.
"Listen, we can make this right," he said. "This letter will clear up everything. We just need to make sure Mary gets it."
"Because you had the guts to get there! No one’s ever done it before. Girls will respect that. She’ll know it must be important, and she’ll make sure Mary gets it."
"Glad to hear it," he said. "You were lucky to get a second chance, you know."
"You should go," Mary whispered. "I’m fine," she whispered. "You should go."
"It’s not going to work like that," she said, and her voice cracked.
"I didn’t know," I said. "I really had no clue."
"To be honest, I’m not sure if I really liked him, or if I just liked him because everybody else liked him."
"I felt really safe talking to him. Making little jokes. I guess it was flirting."
"As soon as it ended, I knew it was a mistake."
"It was such a selfish, shitty thing for me to do."
"I was too embarrassed. It was such a stupid thing to do."
"I can pretend this whole awful year never happened."
"Sometimes the best thing for people is a fresh start, you know?"
"I could spend the afternoon chewing over the plot, trying to figure out what might happen next."
"We just want to make good stuff and worry about distribution later."
"It’s probably the best thing Will and I have ever made."