“I’m a dinosaur, he thought, lumbering through a world where truthtellersare despised.”

“Of course he despised the world as a whole; every thoughtful man should; it is almost a test of refinement.”

“Knowing where she was in the world, even if he never touched her, gave him a deep satisfaction, and he half despised himself for being satisfied with so little.”

“The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture finished and put inside boxes.”

“This is what he was good at, he realized. This is what he did. He placed himself in the world, and the world drew his thoughts outside himself, where they multiplied and spiraled and led him in silent, thrilling flights. And as he expanded into the world, he expanded inside. At these moments an endlessness beyond thought opened inside him. Outside, his mind was whizzing through things, but inside, he was silent, still; sometimes, he knew he was not even breathing.”

“He is where he is supposed to be. And yet the place he has found is also of his own choosing. That is a piece of luck not to be despised.”