“Coroner's inquest: death by drowning. And he hasn't been to the sea-shore in ten years.”

“In the letter he left for the coroner he had explained his reasoning (for suicide): that life is a gift bestowed without anyone asking for it; that the thinking person has a philosophical duty to examine both the nature of life and the conditions it comes with; and that if this person decides to renounce the gift no one asks for, it is the moral and human duty to act on the consequences of that decision. ... Alex showed me a clipping from the Cambridge Evening News. 'Tragic Death of "Promising" Young Man.' ... The verdict of the coroner's inquest had been that Adrian Flinn (22) had killed himself 'while the balance of his mind was disturbed.' ... The law, and society, and religion all said it was impossible to be sane, healthy, and kill yourself. Perhaps those authorities feared that the suicide's reasoning might impugn the nature and value of life as organised by the state which paid the coroner?”

“Human knowledge hasn't been complete enough to understand the afterlife if it hasn't been through the valley of death.”

“You mustn't think of the Universe as a wilderness. It hasn't been that for billions of years," he said. "Think of it more as... ..cultivated.”

“He said a fortuneteller had told Mum's fortune once, and after that, she's never gone out on sea again. It was years ago, but she never has. Not once." said Conner"What did the fortuneteller say?" I asked"Dad wouldn't tell me. It must have been something really bad though.""maybe the fortuneteller said that Mum would die by drowning." I suggested."Don't be stupid Saph. A fortuneteller wouldn't ever say that to someone. You’re going to drown, that’ll be ten pounds please”

“He was swimming in a sea of other people’s expectations. Men had drowned in seas like that.”