My own mask stayed just where it ought. I’ve had lots of practice.

Secrets press inside a person. They press the way water presses at a dam. The secrets and the water, they both want to get out.

I don’t mind the disapproving ones so much. It’s the tolerant ones I can’t stand, the ones who smile at Rose, who speak to her ever so slowly and gently. They don’t realize how very intelligent Rose really is. They’re just terrifically pleased with themselves. Look at me! they all but shout. See how broad-minded I am! How wonderfully progressive, how fantastically twentieth century!

Thoughts are strange creatures. They lead you from one thing to another. Sometimes you don’t know how you got from one to the next.

Father sighed. “Please spare me these arguments of yours.” “Whose arguments should I use?

He’s harmless, poor thing. That’s what everyone said. It was true, but who cares? Lots of people are harmless, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them.

It's the picnic principle. Things taste better outdoors. And if it's a forbidden thing, so much the better.