“It's the sort of absurd notion, though, that I wouldn't mind taking out for a good academic run someday.”

“I wouldn't exactly describe her as strictly beautiful. She knocked me out, though.”

“If I were God, I certainly wouldn't want people to love me sentimentally. It's too unreliable.”

“That’s a deer shooting hat.''Like hell it is.' I took it off and looked at it. I sort of closed one eye, like I was taking aim at it. 'This is a people shooting hat,' I said. 'I shoot people in this hat.”

“I felt like I was sort of disappearing. It was that kind of a crazy afternoon, terrifically cold, and no sun out or anything, and you felt like you were disappearing everytime you crossed a road.”

“The cards are stacked (quite properly, I imagine) against all professional aesthetes, and no doubt we all deserve the dark, wordy, academic deaths we all sooner or later die.”

“After I go out this door, I may only exist in the minds of all my acquaintances. I may be an orange peel.”