“Once someone gets a little escape velocity going, ain't no play in the world that will keep them from leaving.”

“I keep a band of music in my ante-room," he said once to her. "It has orders to play without stopping; it renders me two excellent services. It keeps the sounds of the world from reaching the private apartments, and it makes the world think that dancing's going on within.”

“When you miss someone, they leave a person-shaped hole behind in the world that nothing can ever fill. If you don't keep thinking about them, the edges of the hole shrink and fade. You can't let go or the last of them disappears.”

“Our parents don't know us... They can't know us. We hide ourselves from them. Once they knew everything about us and in order to escape them we keep out secrets, our private selves.”

“You get use to someone—start to like them, even—and they leave. In the end, everyone leaves.”

“Henry,that's how you get rid of fleas. You keep them from laying eggs. You go to war with them.”