“Life is made up of marble and mud.”

“The years of her life tumbled out onto the floor like marbles that she would never be able to gather up again in one bowl. The years of her life had been a made puzzle that one day gets unmade, the pieces all scattered.”

“God made mud.God got lonesome.So God said to some of the mud, "Sit up!""See all I've made," said God, "the hills, the sea, thesky, the stars."And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and lookaround.Lucky me, lucky mud.I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.Nice going, God.Nobody but you could have done it, God! I certainlycouldn't have.I feel very unimportant compared to You.The only way I can feel the least bit important is tothink of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up andlook around.I got so much, and most mud got so little.Thank you for the honor!Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep.What memories for mud to have!What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!I loved everything I saw!Good night.I will go to heaven now.I can hardly wait...To find out for certain what my wampeter was...And who was in my karass...And all the good things our karass did for you.Amen.”

“And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around. Lucky me, lucky mud.”

“The man had a body that made her want to learn how to carve marble.”

“The gods are made of marble Deep inside a museum A quadruped monster beckons me to approach("Outcries")”