“There's a taste in the air, sweet and vaguely antiseptic, that reminds him of his teenage years in these streets, and of a general state of longing, a hunger for life to begin that from this distan...”

“The luxury of being half-asleep, exploring the fringes of psychosis in safety.”

“Sex is a different medium, refracting time and sense, a biological hyperspace as remote from conscious existence as dreams, or as water is from air”

“You can tell a lot from a person's nails. When a life starts to unravel, they're among the first to go.”

“It troubles him to consider the powerful currents and fine-tuning that alter fate, the close and distant influences, the accidents of character and circumstance.”

“Becoming drunk is a journey that generally elates him in the early stageshe's good company, expansive, mischievous and fun, the famous old poet, almost as happy listening as talking. But once the d...”

“They keep track of time. Sometimes things happen and you feel that you need to mark them down.”

“Does religious conviction provide a powerful reason for killing? Undeniably it often does. It also often provides the sole compelling reason for refusing to kill, or for being merciful, or for seek...”

“the past only had whatever power you gave it; life was what you made it and if you wanted something different from what you had, it was up to you to make it happen.”