“He'd done as he'd pleased and even had often enjoyed long runs of luck where he hadn't been caught. But the luckiest moment of his life had been being caught.”

“He'd told his son recently that life was luck. But life, he'd come to realize as he aged, was also memory. The recollection of moments often proved richer than the moment themselves.”

“Once in a while, Jimmy would make up a word but he never once got caught out. ... He should have been pleased by his success with these verbal fabrications, but instead he was depressed by it. The memos telling him he'd done a good job meant nothing to him; all they proved was that no one was capable of appreciating how clever he had been. He came to understand why serial killers sent helpful clues to the police.”

“Die in winter woods," roared Tarin, as if it were his mostfervent wish. He was losing it again. Since being caught, hehad seen a boy with no balls or toes, a finger had been in hisass twice, he'd been cooked, made to wear clothes, walked onwinter-lake stuff, wasted his gift, was going to have his toothpulled out and—scat—and he was being laughed at.”

“He tried to calm his thoughts, but everything came back to what he'd almost done. Because he hadn't done anything, for years or ever, he had almost done this. Because he had no stories of valor, he had almost done this. Because the efforts he'd made towards creating something like a legacy had failed, he had almost done this.”

“No matter how much money he'd been offered or how many glittering stars had requested duets, he hadn't sung for them.But he'd sung for me.”