Quotes from Ernest Cline

Just a maintenance tech here, folks, heading home after a long night of rebooting routers. That's all. I am definitely not an indent making a daring escape with ten zettabytes of stolen company data in his pocket. Nosiree.

All dressed up with nowhere to go. Walking with a dead man over my shoulder. Don't run away, it's only me.…

The bottom of the egg was weighted, so it wobbled slightly before standing perfectly upright—like a Weeble. (Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down.)

a gifted human player could always triumph over the game's AI, because software couldn't improvise. It could either react randomly, or in a limited number of predetermined ways, based on a finite number of preprogrammed conditions. This was an axiom in videogames, and would be until humans invented true artificial intelligence.

I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn't know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it's also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real. Do you understand?

The whole God thing is actually an ancient fairy tale that people have been telling one another for thousands of years. We made it all up. Like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it's also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.

When I played the classics, I did so with a determined sort of reverence.

The weapon had a built-in timer that would prevent it from firing for another twelve hours (a "cooling-off period") (...).

rolling around in broken glass in my birthday suit.

What's up?" "The opposite of down

Unlike their real-world counterparts, most of the OASIS public school teachers seemed to genuinely enjoy their job