“A pool game mixes ritual with geometry.”

“I am so used to hints and mixed messages, saying things that might mean what they sort of sound like they mean. Games and contests, roles and rituals, talking in twelve languages at once so the true words won't be so obvious. I am not used to a plainspoken, honest truth.”

“Their only chance to mix with royalty was while they played Bezique. They never played any other game but this one that had grown out of the French court: it was the game of the cavaliers, a game of waiting between battles.”

“Do we have any chlorine? It seems to be kind of explosive when mixed with other stuff.""Like what, your socks? No, we don't have chlorine. No swimming pool.”

“Beauty is geometry.”

“If I ever meet Michael Phelps, I’m going to tell him that I am that Michael Phelps of random thoughts. Then I’ll challenge him to a game of pool.”