Don’t take me for a fool, lovely girl. We fat old things have not laid aside our brains with our silhouettes. - Sheri S. Tepper

It was her way to start each conversation with an apology, so she could be offended when the apology was accepted.

You're pro-life, Dink commented.
Briess widened the slit of his mouth into an excruciating smile. No, my friend, I'm merely anti-woman. I was born in the wrong system. Once female life expectancy exceeded that of men in the U.S., it was obvious we were doing something wrong.

I’ve come to believe, from experience and reading and what I’ve learned on the outside, that the Regime—I suppose really, one might say any regime—is rather like a pot of porridge. If vigorously stirred every now and then, it can be a nourishing if not always tasty staple, but if left on the heat unstirred for some time it becomes increasing stodgy. If left untended, it can char into an immovable solid, like coal.
Thereafter, it is incapable of being stirred, incapable of providing nourishment. When a regime is like that, citizens have to resort to bribery or lawbreaking to do quite necessary things like digging wells or fixing roads, thus joining corruption to congealment.