“Yelena. What a lovely day!... Not to hot either. Voynitski. It would even be pleasant to hang oneself on a day like this.”

“And like blots upon the landscape rose the cupolas above the ways to the Underworld. I understood now what all the beauty of the Upperworld people covered. Very pleasant was their day, as pleasant as the day of the cattle in the eld. Like the cattle, they knew of no enemies and provided against no needs. And their end was the same.”

“Kissing Simon was pleasant. It was a gentle sort of pleasant, like lying in a hammock on a summer day with a book and a glass of lemonade”

“If everything that looks like love really were love, my God, this would be a different and better world and even the darkest nightmares would be followed by unbearably happy days.”

“Kissing you is pleasant. Like lying in a hammock on a summer day with a book and a glass of lemonade.”

“I look hot and, most of all, skinny. I love the day after throwing up. I felt like a feather.”