“Perhaps we have overrated roots as a psychic need. Maybe the greater the urge, the deeper and more ancient is the need, the will, the hunger to be somewhere else.”

“The more choices we have, the greater the need for focus.”

“For every field planted and grown, for every tree rekindled from their rotting root beds, comes that ancient instinct, that hunger for acceptance, for love, for allegiance. It is a poison greater than any we had sown into the earth.”

“It is not learning we need at all. Individuals need learning but the culture needs something else, the pulse of light on the sea, the warm urge of huddling together to keep out the cold. We need empathy, we need the eyes that still can weep.”

“To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.”

“Instead of satisfying me, the kisses have the opposite effect, of make my need greater. I thought I was something of an expert on hunger, but this is an entirely new kind.”