He had possessed the arrogance of a tall member of a short race, with no obligation save to be tall.

It is not merely enough to have the ability to be persistant, you must also have the ability to start over.

but I felt that Tom would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game

I don’t want just words. If that’s all you have for me, you’d better go

The world is always curious, and people become valuable merely for their inaccessibility

So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home.

You're the only girl I've seen for a long time that actually did look like something blooming.