“But the pinkness and whiteness of underskirts and camisoles, the frilliness of foundation garments, the rustle about the bustle and the fuss about the bust.”

“The sweet accident of coincidence is the best foundation on which to build.”

“It's the endlessly thinking about yourself that causes such heart shame.”

“He knew about being alone. The weather was always cold there.”

“We are loping sequences of chemical conversions, acting ourselves converted. We are twists of genes acting ourselves twisted; we are wicks of burning neuroses acting ourselves wicked. And nothing to be done about it. And nothing to be done about it.”

“There was something about words and music together that allowed people to get nearest to honest truth about what was most difficult to say. Paradoxically, only through the essential instantaneity of music could you approach its eternal pertinence.”

“Is this the main thing that painters of portraits care about? The person on the verge of becoming someone else?”