“When the time is ripe for certain things, these things appear in different places in the manner of violets coming to light in early spring.”

“When I came to you out of all that dust and heat and toil, I positively smelt violets at once. But not the sweet violet - you know, that early dark violet that smells of melting snow and spring grass.”

“Different time, different place,” I said. “Things can change. People can change.”

“My manners have always been the first thing to go when I get upset, and some people say that they stopped coming back a long time ago.​”

“Nowhere and oblivion were completely different things/places to Richard Stein. Forhim, oblivion is when something goes into nothing and nowhere is the place wheresomething can come out of nothing.”

“In our absence, the violet early evening light pours in the bay window, filling the still room like water poured into a glass. The glass is delicate. The thin, tight surface of the liquid light trembles. But it does not break. Time does not pass. Not yet.”