“In the talcum on the floor around him he could see the imprints of his mother's feet. She had moved from side to side, propelled by an over-eager partner, perhaps one of the Japanese officers to whom she was teaching to tango. Jim tried out the dance steps himself, which seemed far more violent than any tango he had ever seen, and managed to fall and cut his hand on the broken mirror.”

“After a heavy snowfall one night in early December the snow formed a thick quilt from which the old man's face emerged like a sleeping child's above an eiderdown. Jim told himself that he never moved because he was warm under the snow.”

“In the trenches between the burial mounds hundreds of dead soldiers sat side by side with their heads against the torn earth, as if they had fallen asleep together in a deep dream of war.”

“The Chinese enjoyed the grim spectacle of death, Jim had decided, as a way of reminding themselves of how precariously they were alive. They liked to be cruel for the same reason, to remind themselves of the vanity of thinking that the world was anything else.”

“I found myself one evening in the dreams of the night, in that sacred building, the Temple. After aseason of prayer and rejoicing, I was informed that I should have the privilege of entering into one ofthose rooms, to meet a glorious personage, and as I entered the door, I saw, seated on a raisedplatform, the most glorious Being my eyes have ever beheld, or that I ever conceived existed in all theeternal worlds. As I approached to be introduced, he arose and stepped towards me with extendedarms, and he smiled as he softly spoke my name. If I shall live to be a million years old, I shall neverforget that smile. He took me into his arms and kissed me, pressed me to His bosom, and blessed me,until the marrow of my bones seemed to melt! When He had finished, I fell at His feet, and as I bathedthem with my tears and kisses, I saw the prints of the nails in the feet of the Redeemer of the world.The feeling that I had in the presence of Him who hath all things in His hands, to have His love, Hisaffection, and His blessings was such that if I ever can receive that of which I had but a foretaste, Iwould give all that I am, all that I ever hope to be, to feel what I then felt (as cited in Bryant S.Hinckley, The Faith of Our Pioneer Fathers, pp. 226-27.)”

“Dr. Ransome marked the exercises in the algebra textbook and gave him two strips of rice-paper bandage on which to solve the simultaneous equations. As he stood up, Dr. Ransome removed the three tomatoes from Jim's pocket. He laid them on the table by the wax tray.'Did they come from the hospital garden?''Yes.' Jim gazed back frankly at Dr. Ransome. Recently he had begun to see him with a more adult eye. The long years of imprisonment, the constant disputes with the Japanese had made this young physician seem middle-aged. Dr. Ransome was often unsure of himself, as he was of Jim's theft.'I have to give Basie something whenever I see him.''I know. It's a good thing that you're friends with Basie. He's a survivor, though survivors can be dangerous. Wars exist for people like Basie.' Dr. Ransome placed the tomatoes in Jim's hand. 'I want you to eat them, Jim. I'll get you something for Basie.”

“A lifetime's experience urges me to utter a warning cry: do anything else, take someone's golden retriever for a walk, run away with a saxophone player. Perhaps what's wrong with being a writer is that one can't even say 'good luck'--luck plays no part in the writing of a novel. No happy accidents as with the paint pot or chisel. I don't think you can say anything, really. I've always wanted to juggle and ride a unicycle, but I dare say if I ever asked the advice of an acrobat he would say, 'All you do is get on and start pedaling'.”