They say that when you’re really in love, the world becomes gossamer and gorgeous, but in my experience the world gets grimy, and the love object is in stark relief from the surroundings. This is love, a pretty thing on an ugly street.

Strange as it may seem, I still hope for the best, even though the best, like an interesting piece of mail, so rarely arrives, and even when it does it can be lost so easily.

In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle.

I do what I do," I said, "in order to do something else.

You’re just jealous of me because I’m a tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian!

But the law is an odd thing. For instance, one country in Europe has a law that requires all its bakers to sell bread at the exact same price. A certain island has a law that forbids anyone from removing its fruit. And a town not too far from where you live has a law that bars me from coming within five miles of its borders.

There are some who go through life with a shadow hanging over them, particularly if they live in a building which has long wide awnings.