“You have never talked to a mere mortal.”

“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.”

“It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor's glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. ... "It is in light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit. ... Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”

“Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.”

“You all know," said the Guide, "that security is mortals' greatest enemy.”

“I felt ashamed.""But of what? Psyche, they hadn't stripped you naked or anything?""No, no, Maia. Ashamed of looking like a mortal -- of being a mortal.""But how could you help that?""Don't you think the things people are most ashamed of are things they can't help?”

“All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.I never had a selfless thought since I was born.I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:I talk of love --a scholar's parrot may talk Greek--But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.I see the chasm. And everything you are was makingMy heart into a bridge by which I might get backFrom exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The painsYou give me are more precious than all other gains.”