it is always difficult to impress the ignorant.

...You can only subject people to anguish who have a conscience. You can only punish people who have hopes to frustrate or attachments to sever; who worry what you think of them. You can really only punish people who are already a little bit good.

Got nothing to do with trying. You like someone, or you don't. If you're 'trying', you don't.

Built like an oak tree, against which I could pitch my pillow and read; mornings, I could curl into the crook of your branches.

One of my problems with terrorism is that it's self-evidently bad. The main thing that makes it complicated is the fact that it works. When you go at it with a moral hammer, it's really, really bad. It's so bad you wouldn't believe it because you don't accomplish anything. I think the one thing terrorists themselves are vulnerable to is mockery. It's an excellent weapon.

The existence of other people is essentially awkward.

A boy is a dangerous animal.