“All of them would understand, as he did now, that he had crossed a line in himself, he had left their world behind, the decent world of tea parties and suburban witticisms.”

“He feared at certain moments that the only new knowledge he would take away from this country was learning how to swim and use the telephone.”

“That echo. It played in his head at unexpected moments, repeating certain sounds and making nonsense of them. But could you remember an echo? Memory itself was like another kind of echo, everything...”

“What he sensed more than anything else was kindness a kindness of a human and immediate sort. It was surprising how very radical this simple emotion could be.”

“The Indians were inside their bodies, he decided, in a way that the British were not. His own flesh impeded his spirit.”

“I am happy to see you, Maso”

“Sometimes, insatiable curiosity and compassion are all that life requires of us.”

“Curiosity is the one thing invincible in Nature.”

“If spectacle is lacking in everyday life, it may be because we have forgotten where and how to look.”