“One who makes himself a worm cannot complain afterwards if people step on him.”

“Nothing seems true today except the death of the goldfish who used to make love at ninety kilometers an hour in the pool. The maid has given him a Christian burial. To the worms! To the worms!”

“Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens.”

“No one is free who has not obtained the empire of himself. No man is free who cannot command himself.”

“You cannot reduce the situation to worm jokes, Will. This is Gabriel and Gideon’s father we’re discussing.”“We’re not just discussing him; we’re chasing him through an ornamental sculpture garden because he’s turned into a worm.”

“All happy people are grateful. Ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that being unhappy leads people to complain, but it’s truer to say that complaining leads to people becoming unhappy.”