“He was already fading. I knew that it wouldn't be long until he was just a vague image, however much I tried to cling onto his memory.”

“My friends are always conscious of what people think of them. As though life is something that has an audience.”

“He was one of those people who completely changes when they smile. Like the sun had come out.”

“Just for a moment, amid all the bad stuff, this was a happy place again.”

“The tragedy of power like mine is that there is no way down. There can only be extinction. Dust to dust rags to rags fear to fear. ”

“Poison!" Grover yelped. "Don't let those things touch you or...""Or we'll die?" I guessed."Well...after you shrivel slowly to dust, yes.""Let's avoid the swords," I decided.”

“The seeker after truth should be humbler than the dust. The world crushes the dust under its feet, but the seeker after truth should so humble himself that even the dust could crush him. Only then,...”

“For every inch of skin, there is memory. Devils are so made. Saints, too, if you believe in them. His humanity has been broken as an old walking stick that once held up a crippled man named Thomas....”

“It frightens me that I can't do anything sensible about it.""Are you scared that you'll wind up with a boring job where you have to see the same people every day and drink instant coffee?""I'm more...”

“She'd be dead before the memories and pain were finally gone; she knew it, accepted it, and dealt with it.”