“That as people age, accumulate more and more private experiences, their sense of history tightens, narrows, becomes more personal? So that to the extent that they remember events of social importance, they remember only for example 'where they were' when such-and-such occurred. Et cetera et cetera. Objective events and data become naturally more and more subjectively colored.”

“The first morning after Westley's departure, Buttercup thought she was entitled to do nothing more than sit around moping and feeling sorry for herself. After all, the love of her life had fled, life had no meaning, how could you face the future, et cetera, et cetera.”

“Paradox is an overrated threat. There is...a quality similar to inertia at work. Once an event has occurred, there is an extremely strong tendency for that event to occur. The larger, more significant, or more energetic the event, the more it tends to remain as it originally happened, despite any interference."I frowned. "There's...a law of conservation of history?”

“All that matters in life," the grey man went on, "is to climb the ladder of success, amount to something, own things. When a person climbs higher than the rest, amounts to more, owns more things, everything else comes automatically: friendship, love, respect, et cetera...""Isn't there anyone who loves you?" Momo whispered.”

“You made quite an impression on the old man, by the way.""You mean Uncle Yuri?""He said he'd marry you. If you weren't related. And if he were fifty years younger. Et cetera. Et cetera.""That a lot of very important 'ifs', Jacks.”

“Meanwhile myself et cetera lay quietly in the deep mud etcetera (dreaming,et cetera, ofyour smile eyes knees and of your Etcetera.)”