Anita felt like she finally understood why love was symbolized by the grotesque pumping organ, always threatening to clog, or break, or attack. Because the heart was the body's engine, and love was an act of the body. Your mind could tell you who to hate or respect or envy, but only your body--your nostrils and your mouth and the wide, blank canvas of your skin--could tell you who to love.

— Tommy Wallach

Do you think it is better to fail at something worthwhile, or succeed at something meaningless

— Tommy Wallach

Exactly. The dots guy. I've always thought getting older was a bit like looking at those paintings. You're born, and that's when you're standing right up next to the canvas. Nothing makes any sense. There's just a lot of light and color. But as you get older, you begin to back away, and that's when the image starts to cohere. All those little spots of color turn into flowers, or people, or dogs. You gain perspective.

— Tommy Wallach

Fiction described reality better than non-fiction.

— Tommy Wallach

Harass: A group of people linked in a cosmically significant manner, even when superficial linkages are not evident

— Tommy Wallach

It occurred to Anita that hatred and dislike and even indifference were all luxuries, born of the mistaken belief that anything could last forever.

— Tommy Wallach

Life isn't sugarcoated. Why should coffee be?

— Tommy Wallach

Life would take everything from you eventually. So who would be so stupid to leave someone they loved by choice?

— Tommy Wallach

People don't like getting older, but they do like changing

— Tommy Wallach

People don't like getting older, but they do like changing. Staying the same is a kind of death.

— Tommy Wallach