“You speak very good English for an American.”

“I have a habit of leaving places at the wrong time, just when something big may have happened for me.”

“Jim Morrison tells me that people are looking at the streets while I am looking at the moon. I do not feel connected enough [with the issues] to throw stones at a policeman. I want to throw stones at the whole world.”

“I was not jealous of his intelligence — he is entirely superficial, which is why he never knows what to look like. Or what music to make. Or whether to be a boy or a girl.”

“Make friendships before you get rich and famous.”

“Americans were most likely good people...the only thing wrong with them, David thought, was that they spoke English very badly.”

“Bird, hesitating, recalled a line from the English textbook he was reading with his students; a young American was speaking angrily: Are you kidding me? Are you looking for a fight?”