“She had become really quite expert, she thought, at listening as though she didn't listen, at sitting in other people's lives just for a minute while they talked round her.”

“She didn't like to be talked about. Equally, she didn't like not to be talked about, when the high-minded chatter rushed on as though she was not there. There was no pleasing her, in fact. She had the grace, even at eleven, to know there was no pleasing her. She thought a lot, analytically, about other people's feelings, and had only just begun to realize that this was not usual, and not reciprocated.”

“She was tired of people saying things they thought she wanted to hear almost as much as she dreaded them saying the things she didn't want to listen to.”

“Anyhow, she thought, they are aware of each other; they live in each other; what else is love, she asked, listening to their laughter.”

“She had never really listened to anyone in her life; which, some said, was why she had survived.”

“I guess she didn't know how much she talked or how much I listened.”