“The clock struck the solemn hour of one, that hour when fancy stalks outside reason, and malignant possibilities stand rock-firm as facts.”

“His hands struck her any hour of the day, like hands that strike a clock, whether early, whether late; they strike, they strike.”

“Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting.”

“Once upon a time there was an anachronic clock. When it struck the hours they would roll through the living room then transform themselves into beautiful silver apples hanging from the ceiling. Every time a new hour rolled through the room the others already silver would smile hanging from the ceiling so that in that room there was always a kind of gleaming twinkle and when the clock had made a complete circuit of the dial the hours already silver would let themselves fall and then the sound would be great pearls of silver laughter.”

“The clock strikes off the hollow half-hours of all the life that is left to you, one by one.”

“SMS made everything negotiable: hour by hour, minute by minute. There was no such thing as a firm plan or a final schedule.”