“It is not in my nature to be concerned about trousers.”

“A slavish concern for the composition of words is the sign of a bankrupt intellect. Be gone, odious wasp! You smell of decayed syllables.”

“Can you spell everything?" asked Milo admiringly."Just about," replied the bee with a hint of pride in his voice. "You see, years ago I was just an ordinary bee minding my own business, smelling flowers all day, and occasionally picking up part-time work in people's bonnets. Then one day I realized that I'd never amount to anything without an education and, being naturally adept at spelling, I decided that—”

“Nature is not horrible. Nature is not wonderful. Nature is not cruel. Nature is not beautiful. Nature only is.”

“Everybody is so terribly sensitive about the things they know best.”

“The bittersweet about truth is that nothing could be more hurtful, yet nothing could be more helpful.”

“When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in. On the way he thought about coming home, and coming home he thought about going. Wherever he was he wished he were somewhere else, and when he got there he wondered why he'd even bothered.”