I know what you want. You want a story that won't suprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality. (p. 381)

'Then Richard Parker, companion of my torment, awful, fierce thing that kept me alive, moved forward and disappeared forever from my life.' pg. 359

Only death consistently excites your emotions, whether comtemplating it when life is safe and stale, or fleeing it when life is threatened and precious

'It was Richard Parker who calmed me down. It is the irony of this story that the one who scared me witless to start with was the very same who brought me peac…

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we read…

'Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.'

The truth comes as conqueror only because we have lost the art of receiving it as guest.