Quotes from Toby Barlow

This is all we are at our best, he thought, tiny instances accumulating up into a greater whole. There is noting magnificent in this world, he thought, that is not born from an act so slight as to go wholly unnoticed. We must be especially attentive to see them, and to remember to perform them, he thought, yes, that is the crux: we must simply pay attention.

Luck is stupid as a cow and blind as a bat.

Days grow hotter and life grows shorter. Time is somehow running out. She flips her pillow so she won't have to sleep on her tears.

She would say 'Bucket moon' he would answer 'Ladle moon.' Night after night sky revealed a bitten moon, a butcher's moon, an apple moon, a thief's moon, a rabbit--- 'Rabbit moon?' 'Don't you see it?' 'I used to chase rabbits,' she had said, her voice sweet and tired.

He said, You know, whoever hurt you dies every time they look in the mirror. That is how they pay." She crossed her arms. "And one day, Maria, you will die too, but there's no reason for you to die every day.

Their love is eternal because time seems to have fled, embarrassed to be sharing such a small apartment with so much dumb affection.

It is the oldest and most simple curse on earth, and when properly applied, no cure can be found. Some might call it love.

Whereas he believed life, any life, was a curious adventure, and if you merely kept your wits about you and stayed alert and in motion, you could find your way to a satisfactory conclusion.

How old are you?" "Ah that is a good one. I do not know." "Before cars?" "Before trains, before guns. Before people stole the curves from the high clouds and the angles from the flying flocks to build all their little alphabets.

Blood, fat, marrow, grease, sinew, muscle, guts, hide, fur, sleep They may twitch in their dreams when they sleep but they sleep deep

He was high up now, gazing across to where Montmartre itself gazed out over the city. He was swept along in the wind, admiring the twin steeples of Notre-Dame as he passed, along with the dogged, devilish gargoyles of St. Jacques.

Minimum wages tends to elicit minimum attention.

This coyote is a wily dog born from ancient trickster bones, Loki, Hermes, the northwestern Raven of lore

she suspected Oliver only wanted some token acknowledgment that despite her moving on, their exchange had not been completely superficial. She found even the most cavalier sorts still hated to let things pass completely unspoken. Everyone wanted to put a meaning to things.

You want to kill a place, name it. A name only draws the people there who will kill it again. They slice it up or tear it down; they rape the women, burn everyone on pyres, and then, thinking they own it, they name it again. Stupid. Enough to know 'there is a hill and good water, a cross in the road and a strong oak tree.' But do not say it out loud. A home should always stay secret or someone will come to steal it.

Floyd Patterson grew up there, right?

What a miraculous fountain love was, Andrei thought, ever flowing, ever refreshing, with a force too exhausting to even contemplate.

He is healthy, physically, his body is fine. But his mind, well, it seems he encountered realities greater than he could bear. Many people need the certainty of solid walls and clear windows, but then they meet mysteries they cannot solve." The priest knew this all too well. "Yes, there are many." "And when they envelop and overwhelm you, well, if you are not prepared…" He gestured toward Bemm.

He remembered that these imaginary conversations always began the same way, with the same phrase, the words he believed lay at the core of what any human being ever wants to hear from another, what affection is in its primary essence, what the bonds of friendship and family mean above all else. So he placed his hand gently on Bemm's shoulder and, softly, slowly, spoke the phrase, over and over again, as if it were a prayer, "I am so glad you are here.

your character was the only thing you ever wholly and truly possessed.

there are rarely any truly big problems, only collections of little problems that pile up.

This is all we are at our best, he thought, tiny instances accumulating up into a greater whole.

Watching as Boris's last chips were scooped away, Will thought it was probably because he had always had an innate sense of how much easier it was to lose than win.

I liked hashish the few times I've tried it, found it fascinating," Oliver said. "Of course Huxley's written about the heavier stuff, peyote and mescaline, but even a bit of any mind-expanding drug can reveal a lot. Small wonder society tries to ban it. Too much illumination and people might find a way to connect the dots, they might start wondering why doughboys are dying to protect barons' bankbooks. Can't have that.