“His voice sounded more sincere in these surroundings, less distorted by pride and pain.”

“He looked like a being who'd voyaged back through time from a world that had overcome illness, pain, and conflict.”

“What was more humiliating, I wondered: having to beg for someone's cold chicken bones or being offered them?”

“Overpopulation has a ceiling: earth’s total surface area divided by the dimensions of one economy seat. One more baby is born and hello cannibalism.”

“I could see tall ideas standing up behind his eyes.”

“His thoughts were clearly still shoving him further away, toward some ultimate dark drama that he might or might not have actually lived through but whose telling would let out the pressure inside his skull.”

“I sensed that almost all of them knew they didn't have much more time on earth. Maybe this accounted for their willingness to pitch in with strangers and form a neighborhood.”