“She wished the man outside really were Thomas, so she and Billups could again have the same enemy and the same fear.O”

“The stove, she knew, wished it were a volcano, the humble teaspoons wished they were steamshovels, and the sink wished it were a well so all the others could have their wishes. Yet they all stayed exactly the same no matter what they wished, no matter what they saw and heard.”

“And wishes, truly wishes, that she could say the same herself. Because hurting herself would be so much easier.”

“Philippa, enviously, wished she could do the same, and then decided she would rather be interesting and sensitive.”

“Abruptly, she knew that after this night she was never going to be the same again. Nothing was ever going to be the same. Oh, yes, the man could define himself as the dawning of an epoch if he wanted to. There was, quite simply, before Adam and after Adam.”

“I'm not saying she was lying to me, but she just acted so different before I got to know her, and if she really isn't like what she was at the beginning, I wish she could have just said so.”