Can you do it? When the time comes? When the time comes there will be no time. Now is the time. Curse God and die.

He was just hungry, Papa. He's going to die. He's going to die anyway. He's so scared, Papa. The man squatted and looked at him. I'm scared, he said. Do you understand? I'm scared. The boy didn't answer. He just sat there with his head down, sobbing. You're not the one who has to worry about everything. The boy said something but he couldn't understand him. What? He said. He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one.

One of the things you realize about gettin older is that not everybody is goin to get older with you.

Our waking life's desire to shape the world to our convenience invites all manner of paradox and difficulty.

Suttree surfaced from these fevered deeps to hear a maudlin voice chant latin by his bedside, what medieval ghost come to usurp his fallen corporeality. An oiled thumball redolent of lime and sage pondered his shuttered lids.Miserere mei, Deus ...His ears anointed, his lips ... omnis maligna discordia ... Bechrismed with scented oils he lay boneless in a cold euphoria. Japheth when you left your father's house the birds had flown. You were not prepared for such weathers. You'd spoke too lightly of the winter in your father's heart. We saw you in the streets. Sad.

See the child. He is pale and thin, he wears a thin and ragged linen shirt. He stokes the scullery fire.

Fear of an enemy can often blind men to other hazards, not least the shape which they themselves make in the world.