Drear ritual turned its wheel. - Mervyn Peake

His face wore the resigned expression of one who knew that the only difference between one day and the next lies in the pages of a calendar.

And yet, though his eyes shone with the thrill of his discovery, he suffered at the same time a pang of resentment—a resentment that this alien realm should be able to exist in a world that appeared to have no reference to his home and which seemed, in fact, supremely self-sufficient.

It was not often that Flay approved of happiness in others. He saw in happiness the seeds of independence, and in independence the seeds of revolt.