“You come to nature with all your theories, and she knocks them all flat.”

“Never show your fear or your weaknesses, doll. Someone will spin you around and knock you flat with it when you least expect it.”

“All theories are legitimate, no matter. What matters is what you do with them.”

“There are several theories on sex and all of them are lies.”

“It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.”

“This is all lie, she want to say to them. The dead are not hovering nearby to knock politely at teacups and tabletops and whisper through billowing curtains.”