Sometimes one must try anything, it is no disgrace. On the contrary, it is a sign of wisdom.

Why does a man cry? he wondered. Not like a woman; not for that. Not for sentiment. A man cries over the loss of something, something alive. A man can cry over a sick animal that he knows won't make it. The death of a child: a man can cry for that. But not because things are sad. A man, he thought, cries not for the future or the past but for the present.

Insanity - to have to construct a picture of one's life, by making inquiries of others.

For each person there is a sentence—a series of words—which has the power to destroy them.

The bird is gone, and in what meadow does it now sing?

How can days and happenings and moments so good become so quickly ugly, and for no reason, for no real reason? Just - change. With nothing causing it.

She makes life over, he realized. She controls life, whereas I just sit on my can and let it happen to me.