“Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition.”

“Elinor looked at him with greater astonishment than ever. She began to think that he must be in liquor...”

“She had not known how to tell him that his loving whispers were always in her ears, like a story she’d been told, the story of a thing she did not deserve. But he understood. He called those thoughts “the baby teeth of a snake,” and swore he would rip them out of her, and pledged to prove to her that the opposite was true. And he didn’t even have to explain to her what he meant by “the opposite”; she knew it was the opposite of her.”

“You don't understand. Speaking, talking--language, that is--represents the most orderly, civilized, and rational expression of human nature. All this foul-mouthed cussing is a gap where you can't think of anything to say. It's the opposite of being rational and ordered. The very opposite. It wants to unpick civilized behavior, rationality, and order.”

“No, she did not want to go to hospital. Yes, she would like a cup of tea. Only then did she begin to think rationally again.”

“She kept up her compliments, and I kept up my determination to deserve them or die.”