“I began to make some money, but I could never bring myself to leave someone else in charge of the shop; the crystals are delicate things.”
“Having never discovered qualities in myself that might attract someone else, I could never believe that anyone felt attracted to me.”
“I don't like doing [things] as myself...I like to be made into someone else.”
“A delicate, inexorable lattice of inferences began to assemble themselves, like a crystal, in the old man's mind, shivering, catching the light in glints and surmises.”
“I will not dumb myself down to make someone else more comfortable with their ignorance.”
“No, really: I can't fight, I never could. I can't bring myself to dislike anyone enough.”