Irony ... may be defined as what people miss.

I'm a complete democrat in terms of who buys my books.

Irony ... may be defined as what people miss.

You can put it another way, of course; you always can.

And that's a life, isn't it? Some achievements and some disappointments. It's been interesting to me, though I wouldn't complain or be amazed if others found it less so. Maybe, in a way, Adrian knew what he was doing. Not that I would have missed my own life for anything, you understand. [pp.60-61]

I had wanted life not to bother me too much, and had succeeded - and how pitiful that was.

He always thought that Touie's long illness would somehow prepare him for her death. He always imagined that grief anf guilt, if they followed, would be more clear-edged, more defined, more finite. Instead they seem like weather, like clouds constantly re-forming into new shapes, blown by nameless, unidentifiable winds.