“I’m losing the appetite for strangers. Once I would have focused on the excitement, the hazard; now it’s the mess, the bother. Getting your clothes off gracefully, always such an impossibility; thinking up what to say afterwards, without setting the echoes going in your head. Worse, the encounter with another set of particularities: the toenails, the ear-holes, the nosehairs. Perhaps at this age we return to the prudishness we had as children.”

“Without first setting your goals correctly, it is impossible to focus on a plan to achieve them. That is why goal setting is so vital to time management and developing focus.”

“Nut shrugged. "Set had always been Set, for better or worse. But he is still part of our family. It is difficult to lose any member of your family . . . is it not?”

“We don't have to put up with your snidey remarks, your total slobbiness, your socks that set off the sprinkler system.”

“I’m struck by how, except when you’re young, you really need to prioritize in life, figuring out in what order you should divide up your time and energy. If you don’t get that sort of system set by a certain age, you’ll lack focus and your life will be out of balance.”

“[...] There are tales among us that you have sold yourself to the devil, and I know not what.''We all have, have we not?' returned the stranger, looking up. 'If we were fewer in number, perhaps he would give better wages.”