“He cannot endure Rachel, because he knows she has a proper appreciation of him.”

“Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it; and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him.”

“If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self—himself—he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it.”

“They are ours,” he said, “although not properly the sailors: they are only along because we would not leave them to drown, and ought to be more grateful for it than they are. Laurence,” he said, turning, “this is Palta, and that man is called Taruca: Iskierka snatched him, and I cannot find she asked him in the least.”

“Rachel waved her hand in dismissal. “Yeah, well, I assume that he was upset, and she was there, he fell, and she caught him – right between her thighs.”

“Sweet Mother in Heaven, please don't let me be dreaming." He raised his hand, stopping Rachel's interruption before she could get it properly started. "Or if this is a dream," he continued, "then don't let me wake up. Amen.”