“In spite of the three hours I spent combing over the details, I have, to this day, a very persistent certainty that hidden inside me is the revolting knowledge of days when I wasn't quite myself. I...”

“There is another system, more beaded than weather or murder, that is moving up into the province. As Les leaves the chair to investigate his sons crying a thousand zombies form an alliterative fog ...”

“We are looking for a tongue that speaks with reverence for life, searching for an ecology of mind. Without it, we have no home, no place of our own within the creation. It is not only the vocabular...”

“But Sasha was from Russia, where the sunsets are longer, the dawns less sudden and sentences are often left unfinished from doubt as how to best end them.”

“Why the Egyptian, Arabic, Abyssinian, Choctaw? Well, what tongue does the wind talk? What nationality is a storm? What country do rains come from? What color is lightning? Where does thunder goe wh...”

“A good traveler leaves no tracks. Good speech lacks fault-finding.”

“My father always said that too many words cheapened the value of a man's speech.”

“Words', he said, 'is oh such a twitch-tickling problem to me all my life. So you must simply try to be patient and stop squibbling. As I am telling you before, I know exactly what words I am wantin...”

“I dont want to talk as much, she said, denting her chin thoughtfully with her forefinger. Its nicer to think dear, pretty thoughts and keep them in ones heart, like treasures.”

“Rickie had a young man's reticence. He generally spoke of a friend, a person I know, a place I was at. When the book of life is opening, our readings are secret, and we are unwilling to give chapte...”

“I'll let the racket do the talking.”