Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors and the circumstances in which they are forced to live.

The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when they make their tormentors suffer. In seeking the Bird's death to free himself, Louie had chained himself, once again, to his tyrant. During the war, the Bird had been unwilling to let go of Louie; after the war, Louie was unable to let go of the Bird.

I've used a cellphone exactly twice. Things move on. The world changes. And I don't know it

Fatigue is what we experience, but it is what a match is to an atomic bomb.

His books were the closest thing he had to furniture and he lived in them the way other men live in easy chairs.

I have vertigo. Vertigo makes it feel like the floor is pitching up and down. Things seem to be spinning. It's like standing on the deck of a ship in really high seas.

I have to detach myself completely from aspirations. I hardly ever listen to music anymore because it arouses all of this yearning in me