“When push-off comes to shove-off, a man must have a reason to get out of bed in the mornings, something more than the threat of bedsores, at any rate.”

“I shoved him. "Kishan. Kishan! Wake up!"He woke only halfway and pulled me closer. "Shh, go back to sleep. It's not morning yet.""Yes, it is morning." I pushed against his ribs. "Time to wake up. Come on!""Okay, honey, but how about a kiss first? A man needs some motivation to get out of bed.""That kind of motivation keeps a man in bed. I'm not kissing you. Now get up.”

“I'll bet you the time ain't far off when a woman won't know any more than a man.”

“When push comes to shove, I’m going to figure out that this door needs to be pulled to be opened.”

“[...] at any rate there is nothing in the world more dreary, damping, and obscurely perturbing than to come out of a cinema in the afternoon to a noisy world.”

“What's up with you?" "I'm grounded," I say, just to say something real. "I told Mum to fuck off." He whistles. "Why'd you tell her that? Any other 'off' leaves room for parole. 'Sod off,' 'shove off'—even 'sock off' is still pretty satisfying." "You've told your dad to sock off?" "Once. He said, 'What the fuck is "sock off"? Be a man and tell me to fuck off.'" "So did you tell him?" "No. Because that was the trap. There's never time out for good behavior with 'fuck off.”