Chris Cleave

'Compromise, eh ? Isn't it ssad, growing up ? You start off like my Charlie. You start off thinking you can kill all the baddies and save the world. Then you get a little bit older, maybe Little Bee's age, and you realise that some of the world's badness is inside you, that maybe you're part of it. And then you get a little bit older still, and a bit more comfortable, and you start wondering whether that badness you've seen in yourself is really all that bad at all. You start talking about ten per cent.'