How fast the ears learned to tell what sounds meant, much faster than it took the eyes to decipher written words.

It's a cruel world, don't you think?

Children, they're the same everywhere. Greedy little creatures but the best listeners in the world - any world. The very best of all.

It's the same in real life: Notorious murderers get off scot-free and live happily all their lives, while good people die - sometimes the very best people. That's the way of the world.

She read and read and read, but she was stuffing herself with the letters on the page like an unhappy child stuffing itself with chocolate. They didn’t taste bad, but she was still unhappy.

Women were different, no doubt about it. Men broke so much more quickly. Grief didn't break women. Instead it wore them down, it hollowed them out very slowly.

How fast the ears learned to tell what sounds meant, much faster than it took the eyes to decipher written words.