exchanging agreeable remarks for no other purpose than to keep silence from closing in. - Richard Yates

Could a person really be cynical about everything in the world and still expect to have friends?

Yeah, well, you're right, but what the hell; there's nothing anybody can do about it. Besides, that's ancient history now. I don't even think about it much any more, from - you know - from day to day. Good, she said. It's always important to keep the day-to-day stuff separate from the ancient history, isn't it.

Yeah, well, sure, 'remarkably intelligent'. Look, baby, the world is crawling with these diamond-in-the-rough types, these salt-of-the-earth characters, and they're all remarkably intelligent. My God, I knew half-literate guys in the Army who could scare the shit out of you with their intelligence.