“War is the extreme edge of capitalism: an economic system so designed that it is always tipped in balance so that the mouth of the few is open at the exact place where the food will fall from the lips of the hungry onto the tongues of the already satisfied.”

“I believe that most of us construct a merciful deception between ourselves and the consequences of our existence in order that we do not succumb to despair.”

“The people are hungry for fresh manna, not some day old bread.”

“. . . you don’t need a happy ending to move onto a happy beginning.”

“From time to time I try to imagine this world of which he spoke--a culture in whose mythology words might be that precious, in which words were conceived as vessels for communications from the heart; a society in which words are holy, and the challenge of life is based upon the quest for gentle words, holy words, gentle truths, holy truths.I try to imagine for myself a world in which the words one gives one's children are the shell into which they shall grow, so one chooses one's children are the shell into which they shall grow, so one chooses one's words carefully, like precious gifts, like magnificent gifts, like magnificent inheritances, for they convey an excess of what we have imagined, they bear gifts beyond imagination, they reveal and revisit the wealth of history.How carefully, how slowly, and how lovingly we might step into our expectations of each other in such a world.”

“You are exactly who you need to be in this moment. Don't begrudge that or justify it.”

“For the briefest instant, his brain was the only thing that reacted. Mistake, thought his brain. Then the mouthful of water, mixed with what remained of the almond toffee crunch, fire hosed out of his mouth, arced across the table and hit Mary Turlington just above her bosom.”