When Jack Burns needed to hold his mother's hand, his fingers could see in the dark.

All men are liars, said Roberta Muldoon, who knew this was true because she had once been a man.

The first of my father's illusions was that bears could survive the life led by human beings; the second was that human beings could survive a life in hotels.

Sell my old clothes - I'm off to heaven

What was even more germane was my study of the history of religion. It was one of the few things in school I was fascinated by.

Life," Garp wrote, "is sadly not structured like a good old-fashioned novel. Instead an end occurs when those who are meant to peter out have petered out. All that is left is memory. But even a nihilist has memory.

When time passes, it's the people who knew you whom you want to see; they're the ones you can talk to. When enough time passes, what's it matter what they did to you?