“He "had developed a trick in college for speaking with authority. He believed that breaking his argument into numbers forced people to pay attention. How you said something could be more important than what you said.”

“Then what he said and how he said it won't be important any more. What will be important are all the things you never got to say.”

“Speaking of Sonya...I was thinking of something earlier. Something Wolfe said.""Why, Adrian. Were you paying attention after all?""Don't start,Sage," he warned.(p 211)”

“Have you heard," he said "that many of our people believe if you know five colloquial expressions in their tribal language, they must always provide you with nourishment and shelter? But-" He paused as though to make sure she was paying attention. "But if you know fewer than five, they owe you not even a sip of water."She nodded, understanding his point, but he pressed it."Learn those five phrases, Miss Sweeney," he said.”

“The worst that could be said of any man was that he did not pay attention”

“He asked if he could recite a poem he had written that morning: 'You speak,' he said, 'the language of shooting stars, more surprising than sunrise, more brilliant than the sun, as brief as sunset. I want to follow its trail to eternity.”