“It was more like a form of claustrophobia -- a dread of exchanging the freedom of her own self-imposed routine for the inescapable burden of somebody else's.”

“One more game," somebody behind her said, and somebody else said, "But who's going to be It?”

“To a Scot, the past clings like sand to wet feet, and is carried about as a burden. The many ghosts are always a part of them, inescapable.”

“Recently she had become intrigued by the admiring glances of other women. The admiration of her own sex existed on a higher and more intense plane than anything men could offer, like the romantic rivalries of sisters. Together, women formed a conspiracy of glances entirely exchanged behind the backs of their menfolk.”

“Self-discipline is a form of freedom. Freedom from laziness and lethargy, freedom from expectations and demands of others, freedom from weakness and fear -- and doubt.”

“This dwarf still observes the world from his own self-imposed height.”