Naučio sam, da tako kažem, živeti s mišlju da nikada neću naći mir i sreću. Ali još uvek ću sve od sebe dati između ta dva trenutka.

Čuj, dušo, oprosti, ali zar tebi nije jasno da mene ovaj moj posao izluđuje? Čuj, hajde da dignemo ruke od svega. Hajde da se samo izležavamo i vodimo ljubav i šetamo se i pričamo. Hajdemo u zoološki vrt. Hajdemo gledati životinje. Hajdemo se odvesti do okeana i gledati ga. To je samo 45 minuta vožnje. Hajdemo se igrati na automatima. Hajdemo na konjske trke, u Umjetnički muzej, na boks mečeve. Hajde da potražimo neke prijatelje. Da se smijemo. Ovako kako sad živimo, žive i svi ostali, ovakav nas život ubija u pojam.

He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself.

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.