“Timid people always reek their peevishness on the gentle.”

“He considered old age and its mutilations and wondered what it would do for him: examples presented themselves to his mind, not only of mental decay, physical weakness, gout, stone and rheumatism, but of boastful mendacious garrulity, intense and peevish selfishness; timidity if not cowardice, dirt, concupiscence, avarice.”

“Junior was eleven. The statement is significant. There are a few peevish people in the world who believe that all eleven-year-old boys ought to be hung. Others, less irritable, think that gently chloroforming them would seem more humane. A great many good-natured folks contend that incarceration for a couple of years would prove the best way to dispose of them.”

“Privatization will always be a timid ideology as long as architects are allowed to unveil their buildings.”

“Be gentle with me, new love.Treat me tenderly. I need the gentle touch,the soft voice,the candlelight after nine.There's been so many who didn't understandso give me all the love I see in your timid eyesbut give it gentlyPlease.”

“There's something unrefined about a reading woman, they always reek of the lamp. How can she grow up to be a lady if she's always got her nosein a book?Granny Rudin ”