“To wait is not merely to remain impassive. It is to expect- to look for with patience, and also with submission. It is to long for, but not impatiently; to look for, but not to fret at the delay; to watch for, but not restlessly; to feel that if He does come we will acquiesce, and yet to refuse to let the mind acquiesce in the feeling that He will not come.”

“We generally look around for what is not there fretting over it and thus letting go of what is there.”

“Sinclair doesn't love your sister." "Not yet." I said darkly. "Give him time.""Look, I'm sure he's interested in her—""Wait till you see her. Just wait.""Like he doesn't have pussy thrown at him from cars?""What a horrifying mental image.”

“Oh, the jobs people work at! Out west near Hawtch-Hawtch there's a Hawtch-Hawtcher bee watcher, his job is to watch. Is to keep both his eyes on the lazy town bee, a bee that is watched will work harder you see. So he watched and he watched, but in spite of his watch that bee didn't work any harder not mawtch. So then somebody said "Our old bee-watching man just isn't bee watching as hard as he can, he ought to be watched by another Hawtch-Hawtcher! The thing that we need is a bee-watcher-watcher!". Well, the bee-watcher-watcher watched the bee-watcher. He didn't watch well so another Hawtch-Hawtcher had to come in as a watch-watcher-watcher! And now all the Hawtchers who live in Hawtch-Hawtch are watching on watch watcher watchering watch, watch watching the watcher who's watching that bee. You're not a Hawtch-Watcher you're lucky you see!”

“Peace does not dwell in outward things but within the soul; we may preserve it in the midst of the bitterest pain, if our will remains firm and submissive. Peace in this life springs from acquiescence to, not an exemption from, suffering.”

“He snarled at me. "This isn't over yet, Betsy.""Excellent," I said. "I would also have accepted 'You haven't seen the last of me' and 'You'll regret this'.”

“And this is one of the major questions of our lives: how we keep boundaries, what permission we have to cross boundaries, and how we do so.” A.B. Yehoshua”