I stood up. It was all too much. I could not even meet my own expectations, and to be asked to deal with all theirs too was suffocating.

What a terrible thing life can be.

For the first time I could remember, I felt weak, woozy and stupid— like a human-being. Like a very small and helpless human-being.

I don't do my job to catch the bad guys. Why would I want to do that? No, I do my job to make order out of chaos.

For my part, my interest in Paris had faded away completely long ago when I learned that it was in France.

I often find myself in situations where it seems to me like everyone else has read the instruction book

Nothing else loves me, or ever will. Not even - especially - me. I know what I am and that is not a thing to love.