A life can get knocked into a new orbit by a car crash, a lottery win or just a bleary-eyed consultant giving bad news in a calm voice.

What wouldn't I give now for a never-changing map of the ever-constant ineffable? To possess, as it were, an atlas of clouds.

We looked at each other for the last time; nothing is as eloquent as nothing.

Courage is the highest quality for a soldier, but technology is a fine substitute.

So little is actually worthy of belief or disbelief. Better to strive to coexist than seek to disapprove . . .

You can maintain power over people, as long as you give them something. Rob a man of everything, and that man will no longer be in your power.

Secrets affect you more than you’d think. You lie to keep them hidden. You steer talk away from them. You worry someone’ll discover yours and tell the world. You think you are in charge of the secret, but isn’t it the secret who’s actually using you?