The New York Trilogy

who wouldn’t jump at the chance to redeem himself—what man is strong enough to reject the possibility of hope?

life had stopped the moment we went our separate ways, and he belonged to the past for me now, not to the present. He was a ghost I carried around inside me, a prehistoric figment, a thing that was no longer real.

Our lives carry us along in ways we cannot control, and almost nothing stays with us. It dies when we do, and death is something that happens to us every day.

This is what the ancients called fate, and every hero must submit to it. There is no choice, and if there is anything to be done, it is only the one thing that leaves no choice.

Ordinarily, Blue would be celebrating this little triumph of his, but it turns out that he is in no mood for patting himself on the back tonight. More than anything else, he feels sad, he feels drained of enthusiasm, he feels disappointed in the world.

He feels like a man who has been condemned to sit in a room and go on reading a book for the rest of his life. This is strange enough—to be only half alive at best, seeing the world only through words, living only through the lives of others.

lost chances are as much a part of life as chances taken, and a story cannot dwell on what might have been.

The telephone was not his favorite object, and more than once he had considered getting rid of his. What he disliked most of all was its tyranny. Not only did it have the power to interrupt him against his will, but inevitably he would give in to its command

By wandering aimlessly, all places became equal, and it no longer mattered where he was.

If this is how you treat your friends, says Blue, then lucky for me I’m not one of your enemies.

Very funny.

That’s right, I’m the original funny man. You can always count on a lot of laughs when I’m around.

And the mask—aren’t you going to ask me about the mask?

I don’t see why. If you want to wear that thing, it’s not my problem.