It was not a big smile, not particularly bold or polite or ironic or glib, not asking for anything or offering anything, not stringy or careless, not, in short, like any smile I had ever experienced before. But such a smile! You could burn a hole in the world with that smile.

I guess there was a war going on somewhere in the world that night but it wasn't one that could touch us.

Life is absolutely horrific, leading up to absolute horror.

Staying alive was what we did to pass the time.

I was pretty far gone, but not so far gone that I thought anyone with half a toehold in reality would think what we were doing was a good idea.

A piano might fall on your head, he said, but it also might not. And in the meantime you never know. Something nice might happen.

I didn't seem to have that effect on anyone but it would have been a waste for both of us to be saints.