“Manhattan was kaleidoscopic. Cubist. Just when she was feeling one way, the seasons changed, and so did she.”

“The girl who did my oil change was so sexy that after she was done, I drove nonstop 2500 miles one way, just so I could immediately turn around and drive back with a reason to see her again.”

“People said things they didn't mean all the time. Everybody else in the world seemed able to factor it in. But not Lena. Why did she believe the things people said? Why did she cling to them so literally? Why did she think she knew people when she clearly didn't? Why did she imagine that the world didn't change, when it did? Maybe she didn't change. She believed what people said and she stayed the same." (Lena, 211)”

“So she did the English thing. She changed the subject.”

“This was the absolute last woman on earth he should want—she was trouble, in so many ways. She was troubled, and that was just one of the reasons he didn’t need this.This was the absolute last woman on earth he wanted to want—she just plain and simple was trouble—he could feel that in his bones.And yet, as he stared into those big, green eyes, he did want.Hell, did he want.”

“In times when nothing stood / but worsened, or grew strange / there was one constant good: / she did not change.”