“Whatever evil might come upon us, because we all came about out of love and care and the Bible and Mother Goose. What can stand against that?”

“Und dann erscholl der Ruf, um dessentwillen Menschen sich den Leib zerschunden und ihre Seelen verkauft haben, der Ruf, der in seiner Vermessenheit selbst den nach Gottes Namen übertönt, der Ruf, der alle Möglichkeiten des Lebens öffnen kann oder zum Tode führt. "Gold!" rief Anni.”

“We all crave latitude in life, yet simultaneously dig ourselves deeper into domestic entrapment. We may dream of traveling light but accumulate as much as we can to keep us burdened and rooted to one spot. And we have no one to blame but ourselves. Because-though we all muse on the theme of escape-we stil find the notion of responsibility irresistible. The career, the house, the dependents, the debt-it grounds us. Provides us with a necessary security, a reason to get upin the morning. It narrows choice and ergo, gives us certainty. And though just about every man I know rails against being so cul-de-saced by domesic burden, we all embrace it. Embrace it with a vengeance.”

“Ja, in einem Waisenhaus wird viel geweint.Andere versuchen, Gesichter zu sehen, die sie einst gekannt haben oder niemals kannten, und wenn die gebohnerten Gänge lautlos und verlassen liegen, schien es in ihnen zu spuken und von Geistern zu beben, die suchten und selber gesucht wurden. Sehnsüchte und verblasste Erinnerungen trieben hin und her, Gespenster hockten im Wartezimmer auf harten Stühlen, unsichtbare Spielkameraden schliefen unter den Betten, und hinter jeder Ecke konnte eine Fee warten oder ein geflügeltes Roß.Wünsche wirbelten so dicht wie Blütenstaub durch die Luft.Alles war möglich. ”

“We all talk about how much we hate lies. Yet we prefer, so often, to be lied to....because it allows us to dodge all those painful truths we'd rather not hear.”

“We can rarely tell others what we really think about them--not just because it would so wound them, but also because it would so wound ourselves.”

“We can never change the story that made us what we are. It's a story accumulated by the manifold complexities-its capacity for astonishment and horror, for sanguinity and hopelessness, for pellucid light and the most profound darkness. We are what happened to us. And we carry everywhere all that has shaped us-all that we lacked, all that we wanted but never got; all that we got but never wanted; all that was found and lost.”