“You couldn’t really tell people you weren’t out performing your civic duties because you were too busy raising the dead.”

“Because that was the problem, really, wasn’t it, with being human? You couldn’t just be, couldn’t just live and exist without dragging your feet through the mud. You had to communicate, congregate, collaborate, cohabiate. You had to corroborate. Copulate. You had to co-this, co-that, co—bloody-everything, and if you weren’t co-operating you were operating with the co, which was a declaration less of independence than of relativity. You could only really exist in relation to others.”

“Last night, I thought we were going to begin.”“Begin what?”She let out a soft sigh and said, “You know, begin”His voice held a smile when he replied, “We did, Abby. Couldn’t you tell?”She pulled his pillow to her chest and whispered, “Not really.”“Then you weren’t paying much attention” he muttered.”

“I wanted to tell you everything. And that hurt because some things were too scary. Some things even I didn’t understand. How could I tell someone—someone I was really talking to for the first time—everything I was thinking?I couldn’t. It was too soon.”

“In your business or in your close relationships, if you want people to perform Herculean feats on your behalf, they must know that you care about them.”

“Business people - Your business - is your greatest prejudice: it ties you to your locality, to the company you keep, to the inclinations you feel. Diligent in business - but indolent in spirit, content with your inadequacy, and with the cloak of duty hung over this contentment: that is how you live, that is how you want your children to live!”