Tim Powers Quote

You ever notice, Joe, he asked, mechanically picking up the mug, that it always takes a little more trouble to get something than the thing was really worth?
Joe considered it. Better than taking a lot of trouble and getting nothing.
Dundee sipped the coffee. He didn't seem to have heard Joe. There's so much weariness and fatigue in it all. For every action there is an equal... stupefaction. No, that might be bearable—it's greater than the action.

Chapter 14 (p. 342) - The Anubis Gates (1983)