“No on thought that they would be anything more or less than perfectly fine.”

“Although I maintain that if she were more perfect, she would be less interesting.”

“I know less than you thought, but more than you realize.”

“If I could have done anything more, it would have been less”

“The charitable say in effect, 'I seem to have more than I need and you seem to have less than you need. I would like to share my excess with you.' Fine, if my excess is tangible, money or goods, and fine if not, for I learned that to be charitable with gestures and words can bring enormous joy and repair injured feelings.”

“This wasn't going to last anyway. He'd have ended things in another fifty or sixty years with her. He'd never want anything permanent with her so this really didn't bother him. This was fine. This was more than fine, he thought as he drove his first through the wall.”