“And this tenderness was not likeThat which a certain poetAt the beginning of the century called trueAnd, for some reason, quiet. No, not at all—It rang out, like the first waterfall,It crunched like the crust of bluish iceAnd it prayed with a swanlike voice,And it broke down right before our eyes.”

“We were all quiet for a few moments before I broke the silence by saying, in my best upper-crust-girls'-school voice, "I am sure that all of you are really just suffering from some horrible disease, and that I should feel nothing but pity for you. If you let me go, I will organize a charity function that you will not believe. It will be, as our ancestors used to say, 'epic.'"There was some furious whispering before Bram responded with, "Ah, thank you, Miss, but we're already dead."I bit my lip. I was starting to crumble.”

“Before you are beginning your first step, let's pray first.”

“Their voices rose and fell, like the murmuring of two fountains answering each other across a garden full of flowers. At length, with a certain tender impatience, he turned to her and said: 'Love, why should we linger here? All eternity lies before us. Let us go down into that beautiful country together and make a home for ourselves on some blue hill above the shining river'.”

“The word 'ivory' rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse.”

“A range of reasons to go with a range of individuals, my dear: some wish to restore lost glories, some wish to alter the status quo, some wish to bring harm to others. In my case I do it for the most personal of reasons - because I like it and because I can.”