“Sometimes we don't need words. Rather, it's words that need us. If we were no longer here, words would lose their whole function. They would end up as words that are never spoken, and words that aren't spoken are no longer words.”

“What we needed were not words and promises but a steady accumulation of small realities.”

“And it was the kind of thing that loses the most important nuances when reduced to words. He had never told anyone about it, and he probably never would.”

“The things she most wanted to tell him would lose their meaning the moment she put them into words.”

“Have your dream...What you need now more than anything is discipline. Cast off mere words. Words turn into stone. (from Thailand)”

“But this thing, whatever it was, this mistlike something, hung there inside my body like a certain kind of potential. I wanted to give it a name, but the word refused to come to mind. I’m terrible at finding the right words for things. I’m sure Tolstoy would have been able to come up with exactly the right word”

“But didn't you say you were satisfied with your life?""Word games," I dismissed. "Every army needs a flag.”