“Adulthood is accretive by nature, a thing which arrives in ragged stages and uneven overlaps.”

“To his way of thinking, the only thing more natural than death was sex.”

“Roland’s heart seemed to twist like a rag inside his chest, and there was a moment to wonder how it could possibly go on beating in the face of this.”

“Stories are artifacts, not really made things which we create and can take credit for, but pre-existing objects which we dig up.”

“To Nick's mind, a corpse was just a thing, no different than a chair or typewriter or a rug. A corpse was just an inanimate thing which filled space.”

“Has it ever occurred to you," he said abruptly, "that parents are nothing but overgrown kids until their children drag them into adulthood? Usually kicking and screaming?"I shook my head.Tell you what I think," he said, "I think that part of being a parent is trying to kill your kids.”

“Hitchhiking around Canada with a buddy after my senior year of college was the closest thing to an adventure I'd ever had, and given the cheerful, helpful nature of most Canadians, it wasn't much of an adventure.”