“I like best to have one book in my hand, and a stack of others on the floor beside me, so as to know the supply of poppy and mandragora will not run out before the small hours.”

“Books everywhere. On the shelves and on the small space above the rows of books and all along the floor and under chairs, books that I have read, books that I have not read.”

“Critics, you have been so kind,
I would not have you think me blind
To all the wisdom that you preach;
Yet before I strictlier run
In straiter lines of chiselled speech,
Give me one more hour, just one
Hour to hunt the fairy gleam
That flutters through this childish dream.”

“Hi."

"Hi." I shrug, as though to say "Whatever."

In my peripheral vision I can see Magnus exhale. He looks a teeny bit nervous.

"So."

"So." I can play this game too.

"Poppy."

"Poppy. I mean, Magnus." I scowl. He caught me out.”

“He trailed off as he saw the books. Piles and stacks of them beside the sofa, another stack on the coffee table, a sea of them on her dining table.
Jesus Christ, Dane, you need treatment.”

“All these years I kept my true nature hidden, running along like a small shadow so nobody could catch me.
-Ying Ying”

“He who postpones the hour of living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.”

“Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me.”

“I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Slit me at my belly and it might slide out, meaty and dark, drop on the floor so you could stomp on it.”

“It might be my favorite book of mine. It was a very exciting time in my life. I was writing that book while I was at college. Sort of like the best of times, the worst of times. There was a lot of elation, there was a lot of despair. It was just a really fun book to write. I loved mimicking all the different voices. The stream of conscious does get a little out of hand. I kind of like that about the book. It's kind of all over the place. It's casual. It's scruffy. That's the one book of mine that I have a very, very soft spot for.”