“I have wondered,' said the Marquis, taking a great bite out of a slice of bread and jam, 'whether it wouldn't be better for me to do it with a knife. Most of the best things have been brought off with a knife. And it would be a new emotion to get a knife into a French President and wriggle it around.”

“ Whether the melon falls on the knife or the knife falls on the melon, it's the melon that suffers." And so it would appear to me”

“You have to see fate as a design, a pattern, and the will as the knife, the blade, the thing slicing through the fabric...”

“But we disposable women have to be realistic in this life, you know. Else we get itchy and discontented and start contemplating the kitchen knife and wondering whether it wouldn't look nicer between someone's shoulder-blades.”

“David held the knife up with a shaky hand. ““Get that damn thing out of my face, boy.David shook his head. “No, you’re going to hit me!”“Of course I am and you’re only pissing me off more with that damn knife!”

“But a knife ain't just a thing, is it? It's a choice, it's something you do. A knife says yes or no, cut or not, die or don't. A knife takes a decision out of your hand and puts it in the world and it never goes back again. ”