The delicate sensitivity of a frightened rattlesnake. - Ross Macdonald

When your income passes a certain point you lose touch. All of a sudden the other people look like geeks or gooks, expendables.

I knew how it was with drunks. They ran out of generosity, even for themselves.

Deep feeling sounded in her voice. I had no doubt that the feeling was partly sincere. Still, there was something unreal about it. I suspected that she'd been playing tricks with her emotions for a long time, until none of them was quite valid.