“Pyle could see pain when it was in front of his eyes. (I don’t write that as a sneer; there are so many of us who can’t)”

“I couldn't resist the temptation to tease Pyle - it is, after all, the weapon of weakness and I was weak.”

“I wondered whether she would consent to sleep with me that night if Pyle never came, but I knew that when I had smoked four pipes I would no longer want her.”

“I thought I am kissing pain and pain belongs to You as happiness never does. I love You in Your pain. I could almost taste metal and salt in the skin, and I thought, How good you are. You might have killed us with happiness, but You let us be with You in pain.”

“The Minister had a great respect for Pyle - Pyle had taken a good degree in - well, one of those subjects Americans can take degrees in: perhaps public relations or theatrecraft, perhaps even Far Eastern studies (he had read a lot of books).”

“Pain is easy to write. In pain we're all happily individual. But what can one write about happiness?”

“I thought to myself: 'Is the pain a little less than when I went away?' and tried to persuade myself that it was so.”