The great thing about irony is that it splits things apart, gets up above them so we can see the flaws and hypocrisies and duplicates.

In fact, the likeliest reason why so many of us care so little about politics is that modern politicians makes us sad, hurt us deep down in ways that are hard even to name, much less talk about.

...the sun would leave my sky if I couldn't assume you'd simply come and tell me you were sad.

Good literature makes your head throb heartlike

Everything gets horrible. Everything you see gets ugly. Lurid is the word. Doctor Garton said lurid, one time. That's the right word for it. And everything sounds harsh, spiny and harsh sounding, like every sound you hear all of a sudden has teeth. And smelling like I smell bad even after I just got out of the shower. It's like what's the point of washing if everything smells like I need another shower

Keep in mind that a language is both a map of the world and its own world, with its own shadowlands and crevasses - places where statements that seem to obey all the language's rules are nevertheless impossible to deal with.

People, unless they're paying attention, tend to confuse fanciness with intelligence or authority.