--Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed
We stand there, quiet. My questions all seem wrong: How did you get so old? Was it all at once, in a day, or did you peter out bit by bit? When did you stop having parties? Did everyone else get old too, or was it just you? Are other people still here, hiding in the palm trees or holding their breath underwater? When did you last swim your laps? Do your bones hurt? Did you know this was coming and hide that you knew, or did it ambush you from behind?
--Jennifer Egan, A Visit From The Goon Squad
Sometimes I aint so sho who's got ere a right to say when a man is crazy and when he aint. Sometimes I think it aint none of us pure crazy and aint none of us pure sane until the balance of us talks him that-a-way. It's like it aint so much what a fellow does, but it's the way the majority of folks is looking at him when he does it.
--William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
When his grandchildren had been little, they had asked if they could hide inside the clock. Now he wanted to gather them and open himself up and hide them among his ribs and faintly ticking heart.
--Paul Harding, Tinkers
The secret of flight is this -- you have to do it immediately, before your body realizes it is defying the laws.
--Michael Cunningham, A Home At The End Of The World
Basically what we have here is a dreamer. Somebody out of touch with reality. When she jumped, she probably thought she'd fly.
--Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides