This world, he thinks, contains just one masterpiece, and that is itself.

The earth's a door if you press your ear against it.

I'm not from a milieu where high-register language or philosophical ideas were welcome.

Always, it is the poor people who pay. And always, it is the poor people's women who pay the most.

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?

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.

This world, he thinks, contains just one masterpiece, and that is itself.