“People think they own time. They have watches and clocks and digital pulses. But they are wrong. Time owns them. ”

“I have this terrible fear of fractions," Christina told him. ... "Miss Schuyler thinks she can conquer it. Also a fear of running out of popcorn. Nothing could be worse than going to a movie and they don't have any popcorn, you know?”

“The most crippling part of my personality is that as much as I want to know something, I can't bear admitting I'm ignorant. It's as if I think I should have been born knowing and understanding all. As if when I say out loud, what are you talking about? the world will point and jeer.”

“But West, like the rest of the Trevors, was endlessly polite. It gave them protection; they could stand neatly behind their courtesy.”

“It's been one nightmare after another, Christina thought. Pretty soon I won't be able to keep track of them all.”

“Breakfast was only worth having when somebody else made it for you.”

“Stephen had just come from a class discussion in which several students believed that the right cup of herbal tea would save them from pain and sorrow. Well acquainted with pain and sorrow, Stephen did not contribute to the discussion. He merely crossed these idiots off his list of possible friends.”