"Restoring a library book to collectable condition is like trying to return a Kentucky Fried Chicken to the state of health where it can lay an egg."

"As a rule, I try to avoid talking with anyone about the collapse of society. My own view is that apathy is an acceptable, if not admirable, stance because it actively reduces frustration and despair and to that extent makes the world a better place."

"Though she was by nature a deeply introspective person, susceptible to long periods of brooding, and worrying, and rehearsing, and revising, there was a sort of potent emptiness at the core of her vision, or perhaps it was a blinding light; and this impairment (if that was what it was) allowed her to think obsessively, often futilely, around the margins if one of her actions, yet prevented her from seeing it directly. Or from seeing herself."