“You never tried facing the sting
Walking all in circles, take it all in stride
Faces are not what they seem,
I always dream
lost in the tide”

“My daddy always said that a man who walks around with a smile on his face all the time can't possibly know what's going on.”

“For some moments after silence had come like a poultice to heal the blows of sound, all that occupied his mind was the thought of what pests the gentler sex were when they got hold of a telephone. The instrument seemed to go to their heads like a drug. Connie Keeble, for instance. Nice sensible woman when you talked to her face to face, never tried to collar the conversation and all that, but the moment she got on the telephone, it was gab, gab, gab, and all about nothing.”

“His hair stands up erect and from his face
All vestiges of colour seem to drain.
He tries to speak but can emit no trace
Of sound.”

“Here's a thought for every man who's tried to understand what's in his hands
Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say / Chained to all the places that he never wished to stay / As he faced the sun, he cast no shadow.
As they took his soul they stole his pride”

“What's going on?" he asked, looking from face to face. "I was having a good dream."
"I need you," said Lisa.
"I hear that from women a lot.”

“All night I lay awake beside you,
Leaning on my elbow, watching your
Sleeping face, that face whose purity
Never ceases to astonish me.”

“I cannot work, or walk, I am mute and lost in God or stand, or speak, but all this seems to me a useless thing”

“It is better as it is: I have failed but I can sleep;
Though the pit I now am in is very dark and deep
I can walk to-morrow's streets and can meet to-morrow's men
Unashamed to face their gaze as I go to work again.I have lost the hope I had; in the dust are all my dreams,
But my loss is not so great or so dreadful as it seems;
I made my fight and though I failed I need not slink away
For I do not have to fear what another man may say.”

“The world is the same jungle all over, but New York is its purest distillation. What is useful elsewhere is vital in the big city. You see four guys bunched on a corner waiting for you, you either run like hell in the opposite direction without hesitation, or you keep on walking without slowing down or speeding up or breaking stride. You look ahead with studied neutrality, you check their faces, you look away, like you're saying, Is that all you got?
Truth is, it's smarter to run. The best fight is the one you don't have. But I have never claimed to be smart. Just obstinate, and occasionally bad-tempered. Some guys kick cats. I keep walking.”