“Life goes on- and a fool and his self respect are soon parted...”

“What a fool I would have been to let self-respect interfere with my happiness!”

“What is the purpose of life?...To be the eyes and ears and conscience of the Creator of the Universe, you fool!”

“He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next”

“Rosewater was twice as smart as Billy, but he and Billy were dealing with similar crises in similar ways. They had both found life meaningless, partly because of what they had seen in war. Rosewater, for instance, had shot a fourteen-year-old fireman, mistaking for a German soldier. So it goes. And Billy had seen the greatest massacre in European history, which was the fire-bombing of Dresden. So it goes. So they were trying to re-invent themselves and their universe. Science fiction was a big help.”

“Billy is spastic in time, has no control over where he is going next, and the trips aren't necessarily fun. He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next.”

“And so it goes...”