“Take now the clockworks... The clockworks, being genuine and not much to look at, don't generate the drama of an Earth-tilt or a flying saucer, nor do they seem to offer any immediate panacea for humanity's fifty-seven varieties of heartburn. But suppose that you're one of those persons who feels trapped, to some degree, trapped matrimonially, occupationally, eductionally or geographically, or trapped in something larger than all those; trapped in a system, or what you might descrbie as an "incresingly deadening technocracy" or a "theater of paranoia and desperation" or something like that. Now, if you are one of those persons... wouldn't the very knowledge that there are clockworks ticking away behind the wallpaper of civilization, unbeknownst to leaders, organizers and managers (the President included), wouldn't that knowledge, suggesting as it does the possibility of unimaginable alternatives, wouldn't that knowledge be a bubble bath for your heart?”

“Is it not that bad to be trapped somewhere, then? Depending on where you're trapped?""I suppose it depends on how much you like the place you're trapped in," Widget says."And how much you like whoever you're stuck there with," Poppet adds, kicking his black boot with her white one.”

“As we live we all get caught and torn by various traps. Nobody escapes them. Some even live with them. The idea is to realize that a trap is a trap. If you are in one and you don't realize it, then you're finished.”

“If you desire the magical powers that led the 808 Tanuki, which are trapped in the old cave of Kumayama, say the words, Look into others' heart of hearts with your own heart to be destined to lead those who are not human.”

“He'd learned something. Life was booby-trapped and there was no easy passage through. You had to jump from colour to colour, from happiness to happiness. And all those possible explosions in between. It could be all over any time.”

“Was it possible to have an apartment sprayed for evil spirits like one would for bugs, or set up traps like for those big, city rats?”