Mizuko loved reading the dictionary. She liked it when there were multiple meanings for words and when opposite meanings could be contained.

It never ceased to amaze me how she just had the facts always, in her head. It occured to me that if, or when, she died, a whole load of facts, a body of knowledge, might disappear without a trace.

The sharp, superficial pain at being spoken to unkindly had obscured the deeper pain, which had not yet turned into something hard and heavy.

Waking in the morning, I had to remember grief all over again. It was sunny, a white winter sun, and that made me sad.

Well, then, what's the plan now? You can't stay here forever.'My plan was indeed to stay there forever.

My ability to make up lies on the spot chills me as much as it saves me.

I felt the nauseous shiver in my stomach—everything from rage to empathy to morning sickness—that I had grown used to and now thought of as being love.

The messages must be stuck somewhere in the tube of light underneath the ocean that connects London and New York.

Email is the scourge of our age, ' said Silvia. 'Email and cancer.

I was on the sidewalk, buffering, wondering if it was okay to follow people in real life.

No order, no pattern, just chaos. Lots of little universes separated by invisible screens . . .

An idea weighs nothing, except on the mind.

And now I'm right back where I started. Sober and miserable.

Where life ends, peace begins!

To remain caught up in ideas and words about Zen is, as the old masters say, to stink of Zen.

If you do not follow the right path, you will be lost.

Congratulations, love. You traded up. Does he treat you well?' 'He's a teddy bear,' I said. Teddy bear looked like he was suffering from murder withdrawal. (Rene and Kate on Jim!)

When we view elevated ideas of Nature, the result of that view is admiration, which is always the cause of pleasure.

Ain't nothing better, we beat the odds together.

My most-used word was no! I said no to pockets, no to zippers, no to extra loops. In the end, all the products were so slim and light.