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1 " When I sit up I am greeted by the world. Level with the treetops I look down on sparrows swooping in and out of the branches. The tide, the new rising moon, the clouds, the wind - these greet me. These are my allies. The whole planet is laid out before me and available for whatever adventure the day will take me on. By comparison, living in society seems to require an alarm clock. Primarily assembled from angst and fish anuses, these contraptions, regardless of your soul's whereabouts, will slap and assault you into a pitiful state of what passes for consciousness. Your first sight is the Time, an arragement of molecules on the clock's face to whom you will be enslaved for the rest of the day. You may as well call him " master." Next, a pile of dirty clothes on the floor, a knocked-over glass of water, and so forth, until you are so overwhelmed with despair that to prevent hurling yourself through the window, you must ignore your personal bill of rights, put on an acceptable frown, and go about your business, disregarding the pleas from you increasingly timid soul. "
2 " She closed her eyes, silently continuing the pleas that she be given words that might soothe, words that would begin the healing of bereaved parents. She had seen, when she entered the kitchen, the chasm of sorrow that divided man and wife already, each deep in their own wretched suffering, neither knowing what to say to the other. She knew that to begin to talk about what had happened was a key to acknowledging their loss, and that such acceptance would in turn be a means to enduring the days and months ahead. "
― Jacqueline Winspear , Messenger of Truth (Maisie Dobbs, #4)
3 " When Magnus looked at Imasu, he saw Imasu had dropped his head into his hands." Er," Magnus said. " Are you quite all right?" " I was simply overcome," Imasu said in a faint voice.Magnus preened slightly. " Ah. Well." " By how awful that was," Imasu said.Magnus blinked. " Pardon?" " I can't live a lie any longer!" Imasu burst out. " I have tried to be encouraging. Dignitaries of the town have been sent to me, asking me to plead with you to stop. My own sainted mother begged me, with tears in her eyes - " " It isn't as bad as all that - " " Yes, it is!" It was like a dam of musical critique had broken. Imasu turned on him with eyes that flashed instead of shining. " It is worse than you can possibly imagine! When you play, all of my mother's flowers lose the will to live and expire on the instant. The quinoa has no flavor now. The llamas are migrating because of your music, and llamas are not a migratory animal. The children now believe there is a sickly monster, half horse and half large mournful chicken, that lives in the lake and calls out to the world to grant it the sweet release of death. The townspeople believe that you and I are performing arcane magic rituals - " " Well, that one was rather a good guess," Magnus remarked." - using the skull of an elephant, an improbably large mushroom, and one of your very peculiar hats!" " Or not," said Magnus. " Furthermore, my hats are extraordinary." " I will not argue with that." Imasu scrubbed a hand through his thick black hair, which curled and clung to his fingers like inky vines. " Look, I know that I was wrong. I saw a handsome man, thought that it would not hurt to talk a little about music and strike up a common interest, but I don't deserve this. You are going to get stoned in the town square, and if I have to listen to you play again, I will drown myself in the lake." " Oh," said Magnus, and he began to grin. " I wouldn't. I hear there is a dreadful monster living in that lake." Imasu seemed to still be brooding about Magnus's charango playing, a subject that Magnus had lost all interest in. " I believe the world will end with a noise like the noise you make!" " Interesting," said Magnus, and he threw his charango out the window." Magnus!" " I believe that music and I have gone as far as we can go together," Magnus said. " A true artiste knows when to surrender." " I can't believe you did that!" Magnus waved a hand airily. " I know, it is heartbreaking, but sometimes one must shut one's ears to the pleas of the muse." " I just meant that those are expensive and I heard a crunch. "
4 " Sometimes ... God answers our prayers in the way our parents do who reply to the pleas of their children with " Not just now" or " I'll have to think about that for a little while." "