My sheets had never been so clean as they had in the past few months. I hardly got them on again before something else happened and I was feverishly ripping them off and stuffing them in the wash with double amounts of soap and all the "extra" buttons pushed: extra wash, extra rinse, extra water, extra spin, extra protection against things that go bump in the night.

...My friend, there are some things that I cannot tell you. Some I will tell you in time; some, others will tell you; some you may never know, or you may be the first to find the answers.

It was too important a matter, this talking to people, and listening to them, to do it lightly or often.

I said: "He cannot be so bad if he loves roses so much." "But he is a Beast," said Father helplessly. I saw that he was weakening, and wishing only to comfort him I said, "Cannot a Beast be tamed?"

Tiny fists can hurt quite a lot when they hit you in the face.

It is a much more straightforward thing to be a dog, and a dog's love, once given, is not reconsidered.

If you try to breathe water, you will not turn into a fish, you will drown; but water is still good to drink.