“I’d rather somebody hate what I do than be indifferent to it.”

“I am doing something I hate for you. This is what it means to be in love.”

“One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be family.”

“And I love the idea of books being more than books, or being, rather, something other than books. I think the ideal experience of my book would be like listening to music.And I love the idea of books being more than books, or being, rather, something other than books. I think the ideal experience of my book would be like listening to music.”

“Mother is a humble woman. Very, very humble. She toils at a small café one hour distance from our home. She presents food and drink to customers there, and says to me, "I mount the autobus for an hour to work all day doing things I hate. You want to know why? It is for you, Alexi-stop-spleening-me! One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be a family." What she does not clutch is that I already do things for her that I hate. I listen to her when she talks to me. I resist complaining about my pygmy allowance. And did I mention that I do not spleen her nearly so much as I desire to? But I do not do these things because we are a family. I do them because they are common decencies. That is an idiom that the hero taught me. I do them because I am not a big fucking asshole. That is another idiom that the hero taught me.”

“No, I do not like music. (But what she really was trying to say was this: I like music better than anything in the world, after you.)”

“This is love, she thought, isn't it? When you notice someone's absence and hate that absence more than anything? More, even, than you love his presence?”