“...then tossed the coat into the water. “Hurst! That’s a perfectly good coat!” “Yes, and I have a perfectly good life. One of those two things is not replaceable.”

“Perhaps the truth was there was no perfect marriage, just some really good ones.”

“London is good for two things — excellent Scotch and leaving.I miss them both, especially as I often partake of one while doing the other. I find the company stifling, the streets foul smelling and overcrowded, the houses bland and without architectural merit, and the people banal and filled with their own consequence. No matter how often I leave London, I cannot wait to leave it again. My home is in my explorations. Those always welcome me.”

“I'm very happy that you're following your dreams. I've discovered that they fragile things and must be fed if they are to live long enough to turn into reality. There are only two things that will feed a dream: action and honesty. If you are honest enough to face your dream, with all its limitations, and willing to take whatever action is necessary to make up for those limitations, then there is a good chance you will be one of the few to succeed.”

“By Ra, you’re an impertinent, saucy—” “Careful, Hurst. We just kissed, so according to you, I shall now interpret every thing you say in a very negative manner and might burst into tears and run shrieking off to a convent.”

“One good thing that comes from living the nomadic life demanded by an expedition is that one sheds the fake skin donned from living too closely among society. For those of us who live for the freedom of such a lifestyle, that skin is dry and itchy and ill fitting. From my observances, that skin is much like a callus caused by the pure irritation of being forced to spend so much time with one’s fellow man. Thank God I am spared such nonsense.”

“Well, it is a good thing he died young. Most men don’t have the good sense to knowwhen to quit this earth. At least your husband didn’t drag on and on like some do.”