“I was never part of the "in" crowd, because as I stood outside the circle, everyone looked the same.”

“...I had stood outside of Poe's house on 3rd street, too, and had done the same thing, staring mournfully up at the windows. The city was like some uncarved block without any name or shape and it showed no favoritism. Everything was always new, always changing. It was never the same old crowd upon the streets.”

“I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.”

“I paused, partly for breath, and partly because I felt I had said enough. I stood there, waiting for her reply, wishing I had a throat lozenge to suck.”

“From that moment no human face ever looked the same. I saw me in everyone and everyone in me.”

“This is the problem with over-crowded inner-city schools there aren't enough parts for everyone in the nativity story.”