“I can't abide people who go soft over animals and then cheat every human they come across!”

“But I do think that when people say 'a learning curve,' they make a mistake. Learning to me always seems to go in a straight, ignorant line and then, every so often, takes a jump straight upward.”

“I am a total zombie just after I wake up. It takes me half an hour even to get my eyes open. Ask anyone who knows me. I can't see; I can't talk properly; I can't do anything without help. The only think I can do properly is think. And I know how to exploit my condition. I've had years of practice.”

“I've often noticed" Fiona said, "that when people say, 'This can't happen in this day and age', they say it because it is happening.”

“This wood,” Yam told him, “is like human memory. It does not need to take events in their correct order. Do you wish to go to an earlier time and start from there?”“Would I understand more if I did?” Hume asked.“You might,” said Yam. “Both of us might.”“Then it’s worth a try,” Hume agreed.They went together down the left-hand fork.”

“I've got a hangover.""No, you hit your head on the floor.""I can't stay. I've got to rescue that fool Sophie.”

“She said 'Over my dead body!' so I took her at her word.”