“Eternity can be found in the minuscule, in the place where earthworms, along with billions of unseen soil-dwelling microorganisms, engage in a complex and little-understood dance with the tangle of plant roots that make up their gardens, their cities.”

“Perhaps it makes sense that a creature that doesn't get ill and has few enemies among its neighbors would also live agelessly and die without explanation or cause--would simply vanish without a trace.”

“People here had redwood trees in their backyards. You were never far from the infinite.”

“The male doesn't eat - it doesn't even have a mouth or an anus - so it does nothing but mate until death.”

“The rat population thrived in such a horrible mess. Ironically, cats were believed to be the consorts of witches in those days, so they were killed. Persecution of cats during the Middle Ages nearly eliminated populations of the rat's natural predator, just when Europeans could have used the cats' hunting skills the most.”

“The American School of Paris is one of those strange places in foreign cities where expatriates huddle together in a defensive circle and try to pretend they're still back at home.I saw it as a place for lost souls.”

“I am like a falling star who has finally found her place next to another in a lovely constellation, where we will sparkle in the heavens forever.”