“her knees, which looked, in the faint blue light, as though they'd been carved by water from a bar of soap.”

“It's hard to kill yourself by taking Tylenol. You die from liver failure, which takes a long time...”

“My ideal life is a quiet one. I like to read, to sit still in the same chair, with the lampshade at a certain angle, alone, or with Meagan nearby, and now and then, if I'm lucky, I'll come across a lovely phrase or fine sentiment, look up from my book, and feel the harmony of some notion, the justice of it, and know that everything is there. That's life to me, those privately discovered moments. ”

“Yeah, well, I wanted to be a screenwriter, and guess what? I am one. That's the other tragedy in life.”

“Where exactly do you put your hands on somebody who hurts everywhere?”

“You all have stories, Sandy said. And we have secrets”

“Personal faintness, and an overpowering personal candour, were the distinguishing features of Mrs Billickin’s organization. She came languishing out from her own exclusive back parlour, with the air of having been expressly brought-to for the purpose, from an accumulation of several swoons.”