In the end, we'll all become stories.

When any civilization is dust and ashes," he said, "art is all that's left over. Images, words, music. Imaginative structures. Meaning—human meaning, that is—is defined by them. You have to admit that.

Disease has always been a much bigger killer of human beings than wars.

But some people can't tell where it hurts. They can't calm down. They can't ever stop howling.

Eating is our earliest metaphor, preceding our consciousness of gender difference, race, nationality, and language. We eat before we talk.

I'm not senile," I snapped. "If I burn the house down it will be on purpose.

I feel despised there, for having so little money; also for once having had so much. I never actually had it, of course. Father had it, and then Richard. But money was imputed to me, the same way crimes are imputed to those who've simply been present at them.