" And yet I have been fashioned so painstakingly,” thought Cincinnatus as he wept in the darkness. “The curvature of my spine has been calculated so well, so mysteriously. I feel, tightly rolled up in my calves, so many miles that I could yet run in my lifetime. My head is so comfortable …” The clock struck a half, pertaining to some unknown hour. "

― Vladimir Nabokov , Invitation to a Beheading