So which is the lie? Hard or soft? Silence or time?

There are secrets within secrets, though--always.

Do not underestimate objects.

the psychological need to believe that others take you as seriously as you take yourself. There is nothing particularly wrong with it, as psychological needs go, but yet of course we should always remember that a deep need for anything from other people makes us easy pickings.

...loneliness is not a function of solitude.

Boo, I think I no longer believe in monsters as faces in the floor or feral infants or vampires or whatever. I think at seventeen now I believe the only real monsters might be the type of liar where there's simply no way to tell. The ones who give nothing away.

For me, boviscopophobia is an even stronger motive than semi-agoraphobia for staying on the ship when we're in port.