“On closer examination, we are simply a banal tragedy spread over two generations.”

“We think there are limits to the dimensions of fear. Until we encounter the unknown. Then we can all feel boundless amounts of terror.”

“When my mother didn't come back I realized that any moment could be the last. Nothing in life should simply be a passage from one place to another. Each walk should be taken as if it is the only thing you have left. You can demand something like this of yourself as an unattainable ideal. After that, you have to remind yourself about it every time you're sloppy about something. For me that means 250 times a day.”

“..That's where we humans make a mistake. We don't see the utterly amazing when it comes to us disguised as the ordinary.”

“To want to understand is an attempt to recapture something we have lost.”

“There's a look of mischief in his eyes. 'Smilla. Why is it that such an elegant and petite girl like you has such a rough voice.' I'm sorry,' I say, 'if I give you the impression that it is only my mouth that's rough. I do my best to be rough all over.”

“We who are profoundly joined in soul can only but heal the ruptures of the cosmos.”