“Pumpkins are the only living organisms with triangle eyes.”

“Youth faces forward, impatient of the present, panting to anticipate the future. But we who have crossed a certain sad meridian, we turn our gaze backward,and tell the relentless gods what we would sacrifice to recover a little of the past...”

“The Venus flytrap, a devouring organism, aptly named for the goddess of love.”

“The squid has even evolved a special place to house the bacteria - a structure scientists call a 'light organ' located inside the mantle. But the bacteria don't just set up house and begin to party. When the first batch of bacteria arrive in their new digs, they have work to do.The light organ has been partially prepared for the bacteria's arrival, but the final touches won't occur until the newly arrived bacteria get things started. It's as though they've arrived in a new house but only the frame is up. The bacteria themselves have to do the finish work.”

“Way out in the country tonight he could smell the pumpkins ripening toward the knife and the triangle eye and the singeing candle.”

“... Humans turn the places they live into great crowded piles of mud and stone, like the nests termites build--but what happens when in all the world there are only termite hills left but no bush?”

“You’re not the only one who wants it all—I do too. I want you every day of forever, Bryn, not just one day at a time. But it’s enough for now,” he repeated his eyes overflowing with fondness.”