The horse, Bernstein, was missing half his tail, because the first cello had just restrung his bow last week. - Emily St. John Mandel

But all of this raises an interesting question," Olive said. "What if it always is the end of the world?"
She paused for effect. Before her, the holographic audience was almost perfectly still. "Because we might reasonably think of the end of the world," Olive said, "as a continuous and never-ending process.

They call themselves the light."
"What about it?"
"If you are the light," she said, "then your enemies are darkness, right?"
"I suppose."
"If you are the light, if your enemies are darkness, then there's nothing that you cannot justify. There's nothing you can't survive, because there's nothing that you will not do.

Miranda is aware of how pretentious this sounds, but is it still pretentious if it’s true?