“It looked like just the sort of family Americans dream of having: dumb and loving.”

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

“I preferred that my bad dreams be vague.”

“Other people's devotions embarrassed me, perhaps because, like other people's kisses, they rarely looked genuine when viewed too closely.”

“My advice for aspiring writers is go to New York. And if you can’t go to New York, go to the place that represents New York to you, where the standards for writing are high, there are other people who share your dreams, and where you can talk, talk, talk about your interests. Writing books begins in talking about it, like most human projects, and in being close to those who have already done what you propose to do.”

“This was all our world was made of: decomposed visions. Not atoms --- bits of dreams.”

“We're a telephone family, strung out along the wires, sharing our news in loops and daisy chains. We don't meet face-to-face much, and when we do there's a dematerialized feeling, as though only half of our molecules are present.”