“A lot of our disappointments occur not from people failing us but from putting high expectations in said persons..its best to take people at face value.”

“We ran into lots of old friends. Friends from elementary school, junior high school, high school. Everyone had matured in their own way, and even as we stood face to face with them they seemed like people from dreams, sudden glimpses through the fences of our tangled memories. We smiled and waved, exchanged a few words, and then walked on in our separate directions.”

“If you expect the worst from a person you can never be disappointed.”

“Do not expect a lot from people when You Yourself can not give much.”

“The whole thing's illusion, [Jacob], and there's nothing wrong with that. It's what people want from us. It's what they expect.”

“You're the sort of person who, on principle, no longer expects anything of anything. There are plenty, younger than you or less young, who live in the expectation of extraordinary experiences: from books, from people, from journeys, from events, from what tomorrow has in store. But not you. You know that the best you can expect is to avoid the worst.”