"All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a philosopher, though seated in the whale-boat, you would not at heart feel one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with a poker, and not a harpoon, by your side."

"I try all things; I achieve what I can."

"What is best let alone, that accursed thing is not always what least allures."

"'Why do you doubt your senses?'
'Because,' said Scrooge, 'a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!'"

"[F]or it is always the person not in the predicament who knows what ought to have been done in it, and would unquestionably have done it."

"Falling in love and falling to your death feel about the same, I thought. And I almost laughed."

"Generally speaking, if a guy breaks your jaw and leg and cuts off your robotic arm, you file charges and get a restraining order. The only exception is when subtle machinations are needed to save the world from a massive, catastrophic alien takeover. But in no other circumstance."

"'The ultimate meaning to which all stories refer has two face: the continuity of life, the inevitability of death.'"

I cannot live without brain-work. What else is there to live for?

First of all, he did not know if there was such a thing as a fair price for trouble.

Her readers followed along, very naturally adopting her point of view, and before they knew it, they were in another world—a world that was not this world, a world in which the Little People made air chrysalises.

"But you seem so fond of her. You give her a nickname, and nicknames are always a sign of affection."

"Because it would be the first proof I've ever heard of that a lack of faith has any kind of power at all."

"But, Dandilion, I could never resist the temptation of having a look at something that doesn't exist."

Rin hugged him tighter, enjoying the feel of his ribs rising and lowering with a breath, the heat of his heart coming through his chest, and considered that a brother, a living big brother, was the best, safest, greatest thing in all the world.

It was rather too late in the day to set about being simple-minded and ignorant;

A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.

An eleven-year-old girl is many things, but she is not stupid.

Of course, I’m being rude. I’m spoiling the ending, not only of the entire book, but of this particular piece of it. I have given you two events in advance, because I don’t have much interest in building mystery. Mystery bores me. It chores me. I know what happens and so do you. It’s the machinations that wheel us there that aggravate, perplex, interest, and astound me.