“Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.”

“Unhappy endings might seem more realistic than happy ones, but reality often contained a streak of fantasy that realism lacked.”

“...which she had spent long and happy hours releasing from their shells, with crazy dedication, because the shelling of pine-kernels is a form of lunacy, you spend more energy getting the damn things out than they give you when you eat.”

“The inevitable triumph of illusion over reality that was the single most obvious truth about the history of the human race.”

“Easily found, easily gathered, lives were the small change of this world, and if you lost a few, it didn't matter; there were always more.”

“Once you have been in an earthquake you know, even if you survive without a scratch, that like a stroke in the heart, it remains in the earth's breast, horribly potential, always promising to return, to hit you again, with an even more devastating force. ”

“I want more than what I want. (Vina Apsara)”