“I privately say to you, old friend... please accept from me this unpretentious bouquet of early-blooming parentheses: (((()))).”

“I privately say to you old friend (unto you, really, I'm afraid), please accept from me this unpretentious bouquet of early-blooming parenthesis: (((( )))). I suppose, most unflorally, I truly mean them to be taken, first off as bow-legged--buckle-legged--omens of my state of mind and body at this writing.”

“Everybody's wondering, how can I arrange the daisies and dandelions of my life into a better bouquet? The answer is, you can't. Life is random. Life is absurd. Life is deadly. The bouquet arranges itself. And it doesn't always bloom or smell good.”

“Abraham," he said. "I'm pleased to see you alive, old friend.""And I to see you dead.”

“Old stories are like old friends, she used to say. You have to visit them from time to time.”

“Like a bloomed bouquet of gardenias, her smile gave purpose to my existence." Dion Kleon - Men of the Cave”