“Who knew why they waited, I thought, understanding that I, too, had it in me to wait. To expect change to come from outside, to concentrate on the task of meeting it, waiting to meet it, rather tha...”

“I was doing that thing the infatuated do, stitching destiny onto the person we want stitched to us.”

“There's an innocent displacement, a dreaming, and idols are perfect for a little girl's dreaming. They aren't real. They aren't the gas station attendant trying to lure you into the back of the ser...”

“A funny thing about women and machines: the combination made men curious. They seemed to think it had something to do with them.”

“If your parents died suddenly, Sandro understood, your home was wherever you were, and now you were from nowhere. Your parents were your provenance. Dead, you had no provenance.”

“All you can do is involve yourself totally in your own life, your own moment, Lonzi said. And when we feel pessimism crouching on our shoulders like a stinking vulture, he said, we banish it, we sm...”

“There are many things that make a man irritable when he arrives home from work in the evening and a sensible wife will usually notice the storm-signals and will leave him alone until he simmers down.”

“Oblivion, she thought. That was the world she lived in. It was what they should name some countries, towns, and places.”

“A lot of men wouldn't like being called a romantic. It's not macho enough.'Quite often men are fools.”

“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.”