Forced to choose between one irascible, unpredictable tyrant and another

Laura, on the other hand, had taken to religion in a serious way during Mr. Erskine's tenure: she was still frightened of God, bur forced to choose between one irascible, unpredictable tyrant and another, she'd chosen the one that was bigger, and also farther away.

M. Atwood, The Blind Assassin (2000), 202

God must have heard this sort of thing before

Then the school chaplain offered a prayer, lecturing God on the many unprecedented challenges that face today's young people. God must have heard this sort of thing before, he's probably as bored with it as the rest of us.

M. Atwood, The Blind Assassin (2000), 47

If you leave something on the floor when you go out, you know that it will still be there when you get back

As my mother said soon afterwards, ‘the really bloody thing about being poor is that if you leave something on the floor when you go out, you know that it will still be there when you get back’

D. Athill, Instead of a letter (1963), Kindle ed. loc. 450

Exports oil, girls, and future Nobel Prize laureates

Russia [has become] a country that exports oil, girls, and future Nobel Prize laureates

Andrei Klepach, quoted in T.Gustafsen, 'Putin's petroleum problem' Foreign Affairs 91.6 (2012), 91