He envied the bark, which had been, in the course of one lifetime, both forest and fire. One endured; one destroyed.

Trees are as close to immortality as the rest of us ever come.

We are so excited that, in the strangely illuminating phrase my mother favours, we’re completely beside ourselves.

So many problems, however infinitely varied they first appear, turn out to be matters of money. I can't tell you how much this offends me.

That narrows down the search quite a bit,” Daniel commented. “But what if you still don’t find her?”“Then I’m still not going to join the throng of mindless dicks out there looking for a dizney-whore to take advantage of.” Will was frowning but Daniel laughed explosively through his nose.“I can’t believe you just said that!

The dogs came racing up the stairs. They danced at Rima's feet, frantic with the need to communicate something to her. Little Timmy's down the well! Feed us ice cream and potato chips! Sometimes there's a benefit to not sharing a language.

But I knew that, both in fairyland and the real world, too, wishes were a slipperier things.

Contrary to our metaphors, humans are much more imitative than the other apes. For example: if chimps watch a demonstration on how to get food out of a puzzle box, they, in their turn, skip any unnecessary steps, go straight to the treat. Human children overimitate, reproducing each step regardless of its necessity. There is some reason why, now that it’s our behavior, being slavishly imitative is superior to being thoughtful and efficient, but I forget exactly what that reason is.

Out there is South Dakota," Kitch had said, "Matt said they treated Fern like some kind of animal.

Like they say, you never know a person till you’ve done time with them.