“A beard on a man is only a way of hiding something, his face of course, but also the inner matters, like a hedge around a secret garden, or a cover over a bird cage.”

“A secret in his mouth, is like a wild bird put into a cage; whose door no sooner opens, but 'tis out.”

“I don't like this, Toua," I go on. "We're like birds that have flown a very long way from their nest. We're like nettles in a garden full of hops. We shouldn't have to hide who we are. Our faces are unseen.”

“In all his trials he felt encouraged and sometimes even upbourne by a secret force within. The soul helps the body, and at certain moments uplifts it. It is the only bird which sustains its cage.”

“In something like an instant the man had changed his life. He reinvented his relationship to the world around him in a way that is considered normal only in California.”

“Here every bird and fish knew its course. Every tree had its own place upon this earth. Only man had lost his way.”