“Above, the stars shone hard and bright, sparks struck off the dark skin of the universe.”

“It was the possibility of darkness that made the day seem so bright.”

“If you're going into a dark place... you should take a bright light, and shine it on everything. If you don't want to see, why in God's name would you dare the dark at all?”

“If you're going into a very dark place, then you should take a bright light, and shine it on everything. If you don't want to see, why in God's name would you dare the dark at all?”

“As for the end of the universe…I say let it come as it will, in ice, fire, or darkness. What did the universe ever do for me that I should mind its welfare?”

“And above [the three of] them, Old Star and Old Mother rose into their appointed places and stared at each other across the starry ruins of their ancient broken marriage.”

“What comes in when daylight leaves is a kind of certainty: that beneath the skin there is a secret, some mystery both black and bright. You feel this mystery in every breath, you see it in every shadow, you expect to plunge into it at every turn of a step.”