“No varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself.”

“it is a principle of his that no man who was not a true gentleman at heart, ever was, since the world began, a true gentleman in manner. He says, no varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself.”

“Varnish and gilding hide many stains.”

“Care more for a grain of faith than a ton of excitement.”

“If he was wood, he was a flail, and I was grain on the threshing floor.I was a thousand grains, my thoughts blown like chaff. All that was left was the taste of salt.”

“They had to evacuate the grade school on Tuesday. Kids were getting headaches and eye irritations, tasting metal in their mouths. A teacher rolled on the floor and spoke foreign languages. No one knew what was wrong. Investigators said it could be the ventilating system, the paint or varnish, the foam insulation, the electrical insulation, the cafeteria food, the rays emitted by microcomputers, the asbestos fireproofing, the adhesive on shipping containers, the fumes from the chlorinated pool, or perhaps something deeper, finer-grained, more closely woven into the basic state of things.”