It takes, unhappily, no more than a desk and writing supplies to turn any room into a confessional.

[Oedipa Maas] awoke at last to find herself getting laid.

Losing faith is a complicated business and takes time. There are no epiphanies, no "moments of truth." It takes much thought and concentration in the later phases, which thenselves come about through an accumulation of small accidents: examples of general injustice, misfortune falling upon the godly, prayers of one's own unanswered.

It all comes down, as it must, to the desires of individual men. Oh, and women too of course, bless their empty little heads.

Everybody gets told to write about what they know. The trouble with many of us is that at the earlier stages of life we think we know everything- or to put it more usefully, we are often unaware of the scope and structure of our ignorance.

What are the stars but points in the body of God where we insert the healing needles of our terror and longing?

A screaming comes across the sky.