“But what are they? Annie asked.An omphalos, probably, said Jacob.A what, dear? Melinda asked.A bellybutton of the world.I didnt know it had one.”

“ Im going to be a writer, he reminded Milo. And you wont need literature? Ill write my own.”

“Since he had given up men he had taken up geography. He visited a new sight or a new neighborhood nearly every weekend.”

“A year ago he had been in America. Two years ago he had been straight. Tonight he was underground, with the remains of the bogey man, lit by the torches of the children who had killed him.”

“I suppose it does come with a certain responsibility.What does? asked Annie.The magnificence of my person.Gah.”

“Crisis the midwife of capitalism. The advisers arrive and say, My god, they have no predatory class here. It is an emergency! We must create one immediately. Let us arrange to give everything to a...”

“No. Ye loved him. I canna hold it against either of you that ye mourn him. And it gives me some comfort to know ..." He hesitated, and I reached up to smooth the rumpled hair off his face."To know ...”

“In his arms Ive finally found the place Ive been looking for, where fear cant touch me, where memories cant reach, where the past is forgotten and the present is enough. Where the present is, in fa...”

“Our relationship with the world can only be better when we know ourselves well!”