“He expected too much from people, that was the problem, Ethan thought. He expected too much from life.”

“Socrates said the perfect society would be based on a great lie. People would be told that lie from the cradle, and they would believe it, because human beings need to make order out of chaos.”

“Words are real. Even if you can't see them, or hold them. Once you send them out in the world, they have power. Never speak words you don't mean.”

“Music is art, and art is an integral part of the human experience.”

“Don't expect too much from people- expect it from yourself”

“And his eyes frighten me, too. They're the eyes of an old man, an old man who's seen so much in life that he no longer cares to go on living. They're not even desperate... just quiet and expectant, and very, very lonely, as if he were quite alone of his own free choice.”

“I was too miserable to take much consolation just from feeling good for a moment in a welter of shudders and salted, bloodstained tears.”