“Just before the men closed the tail gate on the float, she strained her head to see me and nodded her head so hard her blonde mane flew around her faceshe looked like she was standing in a cloud of...”

“She simply stared at me with such a loving expression on her face, I felt like I was her foal. Indah reached her head as far as she could around me, to press me to her. I melted. How could I live w...”

“Who was that? Layetta asked.Nobody.You cant take a phone call from nobody. That meansthere is no one on the other end of the phone, meaning no phone call. So. Who was it? I asked.”

“You two would get on like a house on fire. Don't douse the flames before you've struck a match.”

“My mouth fell open in incredulity.Ah, Maria. Are you trying to tell me youve taken up the sport of fly-catching with your mouth?Ros reached over and lifted my chin.And an assistant too. So that you...”

“You weasel, good-for-nothing, scumbag, swine,sleazebag, scumbucket, scoundrel, son-of-a-bitch!In the midst of everything, we all looked at Rosina,who smiled sheepishly.Sorry. I was reading the Dict...”

“Don't be afraid! Hold my hand and let's jump off that cliff together. ”

“Sometimes the fastest way down is to jump off a cliff.”

“I had killed our careful relationship by driving my tongue through its heart and pushing it off a cliff.”

“We fly, but we have not 'conquered' the air. Nature presides in all her dignity, permitting us the study and the use of such of her forces as we may understand. It is when we presume to intimacy, h...”

“People have to forgive. We don't have to like them, we don't have to be friends with them, we don't have to send them hearts in text messages, but we have to forgive them, to overlook, to forget. B...”

“Q: You'er presented with a smooth-faced, eight-foot-high wooden wall. Your objective? Get over it. To, like, save comrades or something. How to accomplish this?A: Take a running start, brace one fo...”

“When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for t...”

“You know Balbec so well - do you have friends in the area?'I have friends wherever there are companies of trees, wounded but not vanquished, which huddle together with touching obstinacy to implore...”

“Things that matter are not easy. Feelings of happiness are easy. Happiness is not. Flirting is easy. Love is not. Saying youre friends is easy. Being friends is not.”