“put Rachel facing the door, in a faint subtle effort to make her know that if he had only had enough money and had managed to finish the thesis, he might well have asked her to be his hostess and s...”

“Inwardly, though, she was blown empty by a giant breath, and while they stood waiting for Mr. Henshaw to tie up the Clara she knew that she would never be the same poor, ignorant woman of an hour a...”

“I let myself exist mainly through my children... [but] I could not even guess at the lives my children led.”

“our dispassionate acceptance of attrition...[can] be matched by a full use of everything that has ever happened in all the long wonderful-ghastly years to free a person's mind from his body.”

“She resolved, at forty-some, that since she herself must die, she would do it as gracefully as possible, as free as possible from vomitings, moans, the ignominy of basins, bedsores, and enemas, not...”

“If I were rich, I would buy him a new black suit. ... If I had next week's allowance and had not spent this week's on three Cherry Flips ...”

“If theyd caused you pain, Id never have been able to live with myself, he said as he backed up a step.You might want to find another place to sit. Those idiots could cook up a plan for revenge. I c...”

“People are priceless. A chance meeting with a loving human being was worth more than any amount of money in the world. I felt rich.”

“I remember one time we were walking into a grocery store and an old man was ringing a bell for the Salvation Army. I asked my dad if we could give him some money and he told me no, that he works ha...”