“But then what should I have done with you, Nina, how should I have disposed of the store of sadness that had gradually accumulated as a result of our seemingly carefree, but really hopeless meetings?”

“And they just let you enter after their effort?""What should they have done, Mr MacRieve?""I know exactly what I would have done.""I know exactly how I would have retaliated.”

“Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest.”

“She says it is a good thing to have no sense of how it is done in the things that amuse you. You should have one absorbing occupation and as for the other things in life for full enjoyment you should only contemplate results. In this way you are bound to feel more about it than those who know a little of how it is done.”

“If it should turn out that we have mishandled our own lives as several civilizations before us have done, it seems a pity that we should involve the violet and the tree frog in our departure.”

“And I could have died right then. And considering how things went, I really should have.”