“Built into bad news is that sense of profound disbelief. The mind struggles to absorb the bare facts, defending itself against the larger implications.”

“The truth isn't always nice. It isn't always small enough to absorb at once. Sometimes the truth washes over you and threatens to take you right down with it.”

“Some people die accidentally. It's a fact.”

“There were pieces missing yet but they would fall into place and then maybe the whole of it would make sense.”

“So much of the past in encapsulated in the odds and ends. Most of us discard more information about ourselves than we ever care to preserve. Our recollection of the past is not simply distorted by our faulty perception of events remembered but skewed by those forgotten. The memory is like twin orbiting stars, one visible, one dark, the trajectory of what's evident forever affected by the gravity of what's concealed.”

“Too much virtue has a corrupting effect.”

“I did discover that if you're interested in low wages, a bookstore ranks below retail clothing sales, except the hours are worse.”