“Is it too much to ask that women be spared the daily struggle for superhuman beauty in order to offer it to the caresses of a subhumanly ugly mate?”

“Beauty he loved for its own sake; ugliness, which more often than not was a form of inverted beauty, fascinated him. Life offered far too little of either, and far too much appalling mediocrity, which he thought hideous.”

“Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention, but fear too, is not barren of ingenious suggestions.""Nice little saloon, isn't it" I said, as if noticing it for the first time."At noon I gave no orders for change of course, and the mates whiskers grew much concerned and seemed to be offering themselves to my unduly notice.”

“In times such as ours, however, when there is too much order, too much management, too much programming and control, it becomes the duty of superior men and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery.”

“Charles, mate, you fret too much. I'm a grown man, I am, and I can blood my handle.""Handle your blood?" Bones offered dryly.Ian grinned. "Exactly.”

“There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served.”