“A well-adjusted person wouldn't talk much. There's not a lot to be said about most of life. Most days, weeks, years, lives, nothing happens... and still we carry on chattering at each other.”

“Where has Arnold been?’ I said. ‘... the Westwoods get in the papers.’‘Patting the orphans.’‘Getting homes for the homeless.’‘Legs for the legless.’ She was laughing as she said it.‘Blind dogs,’ I ...”

“There is a light within our soul that burns brighter than the sun. And we ignore it.”

“It's not much. You begin by thinking there is something extraordinary about it. But you'll find out, when you've been out in the world a while longer, unhappiness is the commonest thing there is.”

“A man can gasp out his life beside you-and you feel none of it. Pity, Sympathy, sure-but you don't feel the pain. Your belly is whole and that's what counts. A half-yard away someone's world is snu...”