“Your wife is a big hippo! My face is melting! My face is meltinnnnggg!”

“If I were you, I'd sue my face for slander.”

“I'm sure you won't dream of trying to escape from your obligations by fleeing the city...''I assure you the thought never even crossed my mind, lord.''Indeed? Then if I were you I'd sue my face for slander.”

“The hippo of recollection stirred in the muddy waters of the mind.”

“The river, it's banks as yet untamed wandered languidly through thickets of rush and papyrus. Ibises waded in the shallows; in the deeps hippos rose and sank slowly like pickled eggs.”

“Please, young sir! Have mercy! If not for me, please think of my dear wife and my four lovely children who'll be without their daddy!""You're not married," said Malicia. "You don't have any children!""I might want some one day!”

“She waited with Billy Slick while Carrot went on the errand, and for something to say, she said, ‘Billy Slick doesn’t sound much like a goblin name?’ Billy made a face. ‘Too right! Granny calls me Of the Wind Regretfully Blown. What kind of name is that, I ask you? Who’s going to take you seriously with a name like that? This is modern times, right?’ He looked at her defiantly, and she thought: and so one at a time we all become human – human werewolves, human dwarfs, human trolls... the melting pot melts in one direction only, and so we make progress.”