“I should not yield to it, he told himself once again as he walked along carrying the briefcase. Compulsion-obsession-phobia. But he could not free himself. It in my grip, I in its, he thought.”
“He enables [his children] to walk before him; he holds their hand in difficulties; he himself carries them along in hardships that he sees as being otherwise unbearable to them.”
“I actually told him to f**k himself. And that if he needed an ass to paddle, he should look in the mirror.”
“Asil has appointed himself my guardian?" asked Charles softly. Asil was overstepping himself. "He was bored, he told me," said his father. He gave Charles a small smile. "I have given him a job so he doesn’t get bored again.”
“He could lose himself in her forever, he thought.”
“Someone told me once, that he who talks to himself is conversing with a fool. I suppose there's truth in that.”