“Family is everything! he always said when he went overboard with sentimentality. If you dont have family, what do you have?”

“Why should I ignore them? In my own house? Spiteful snobs! Ive appalling taste, do I? Im skeletal, am I? Anyone would look skeletal next to them. They are both starting to look like porkers! As soo...”

“There are people that have had worse happen to them. All those people that died in the hotel bombing? All those that were maimed and left orphaned?”

“It was a fairly large house, larger than all our previous dwellings. There were two pinkwashed, picture- windowed, orange gable-roofed storeys, encompassing eight rooms, and an adjoining, presently...”

“Salila! said Maia, outraged. Another DOG? ON TOP OF ALL THE OTHER ANIMALS?SO WHAT....? I began, and then got cut off as Polly attempted to land her shaggy grey bulk into my lap,unmindful as ever of...”

“LOOK AT HIM! Mum, LOOK! OUR NEW DOG! ISNT HE A BEAUTY?Another DOG! came Maias amazed voice.”

“work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it.”

“Happiness [is] only real when shared”

“That's what people do who love you. They put their arms around you and love you when you're not so lovable.”

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

“If I am going to be drownedif I am going to be drownedif I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and t...”

“I'm an Earth ecstatic, and my creed is simple: All life is sacred, life loves life, and we are capable of improving our behavior toward one another. As basic as that is, for me it's also tonic and ...”