[I] thought of that line from The Iliad I love so much, about Pallas Athene and the terrible eyes shining.
With the news about Andy, it was like someone had thrown an x-ray switch and reversed everything into photographic negative, so that even with the daffodils and the dogwalkers and the traffic cops whi...
With distaste, Harriet reflected upon how life had beaten down the adults she knew, every single grown-up. Something strangled them as they grew older, made them doubt their own powers-laziness? Habit...
Why, I thought sadly, as he returned with his topcoat over his arm, why hadn’t my mother married someone like him—? Or Mr. Bracegirdle? somebody she actually had something in common with—older maybe b...
Why does that obstinate little voice in our heads torment us so? Could it be because it reminds us that we are alive, of our mortality, of our individual souls – which, after all, we are too afraid to...
Why did I obsess over people like this? Was it normal to fixate on strangers in this particular vivid, fevered way? I didn’t think so. It was impossible to imagine some random passer-by on the street...
Who was it said that coincidence was just God’s way of remaining anonymous?
Who cares? If he is good to you? None of us ever find enough kindness in the world, do we?
White Sky. Trees fading at the skyline, the mountains gone. My hands dangled from the cuffs of my jacket as if they weren’t my own. I never got used to the way the horizon there could just erase itsel...
When you're worried about something,' said Henry abruptly, 'have you ever tried thinking in a different language?
When we are sad—at least I am like this—it can be comforting to cling to familiar objects, to the things that don't change.
What you want to live and be happy in the world is a woman who has her own life and lets you have yours.
What if all your actions and choices, good or bad, make no difference to God? What if the pattern is pre-set? No no—hang on—this is a question worth struggling with. What if our badness and mistakes a...
Weren’t we, as sentient beings, put upon the earth to be happy, in the brief time allotted to us?
Well, you know what Julian would say,’ said Francis. ‘There are such things as ghosts. People everywhere have always known that. And we believe in them every bit as much as Homer did. Only now, we cal...
We looked at each other. And it occurred to me that despite his faults, which were numerous and spectacular, the reason I’d liked Boris and felt happy around him from almost the moment I’d met him was...
We looked at each other, for a long strange moment that I’ve never forgotten, actually, like two animals meeting at twilight, during which some clear, personable spark seemed to fly up through his eye...
We looked at each other and just laughed; everything was hysterically funny, even the playground slide was smiling at us, and at some point, deep in the night, when we were swinging on the jungle gym...
We don't like to admit it, said Julian, but the idea of losing control is one that fascinates controlled people such as ourselves more than anything. All truly civilized people - the ancients no less...
We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others, that in the end, we become disguised to ourselves.