I just want to know one thing: how would it feel to hold your hand?

Besides, poverty’s not interesting, and I don’t want them to pity me

First and foremost, what proves to me that you are what you say you are?

Lehilahy tells his son that he must work harder in order to succeed, that knowledge is not easily attained.

We made God wait his turn, because we wanted to eat meat.

Story, story. If there is a falsehood in my tale, it is not I who has lied to you.

The adults didn’t risk wandering about in broad daylight . . .

If you don’t take advantage of the rainy years, you’d better have some jump in your legs in the dry years.

It’s a well-known fact that rhyming jingles attract customers.

In the house on the hill, a bright, spacious room was waiting for a cradle.

She wonders why she’s doing this to herself. Is it supposed to be some kind of test?

I completely ruined my father.

I was not mortified by the vendors with their repulsive pot bellies hanging out and their shirtless bodies encased in tiny shorts that offered glimpses of their balls.

I was clouds transforming, a sinking billow.

The day the farming truck crushed Papá’s car the hunting had been bountiful

For two weeks I felt like I was wrapped in barbed wire.

At one castle reception she had bitten into a decorative banana that tasted distinctly of sawdust.

He was old and filthy and probably hadn’t eaten for some time.

A man of letters has to be in contact with life . . .

Three days later a diagnosis was received from Kärdla hospital: cardiac arrest as a result of varicose glaciation.

I hated how Margarita cracked her knuckles when it was her turn to play the piano.

That extraordinary screeching had been artificial: it hadn’t come from the ice, but from a weapon.

On the first attempt, the trigger jammed.

My skull rolls on the floor. Damn it.

Understanding what she desired, I said yes.

“It was just an idea,” Yves responded cynically, his face red, his lips damp.

I told her everything, except for the blood.

“Every time someone goes to the USA, they die.

When I was still in primary school, most of my time was spent up in that wild cherry tree.

But what caught most of his attention was the man’s wings.

How could anyone survive on a primary teacher’s pension?

So you're hiding a communist, are you?

I will find a way to get this letter safely to your hands, although it may take a long time.

It seemed to them as if the Chairman were sharing with them a playful and secret sign.

Tsering the Wandering Minstrel traveled the road in search of a dream.

Daughter of Brahma, you have suffered.

“True. I am a whore. What of it?”

Do I build a tree house without you?

Ten days was too long for a conversion and too short for a re-education.

Anyone wearing such a provocative pair of lederhosen is asking for trouble and shouldn’t be surprised to get it.

American chicken breasts will keep Europe at peace!”

If you’re dead you can go back to the barracks.

I roll myself up on the floor and purr like a cat.

It was inconceivable that a chicken could get lost.

I’d never found the plant or flower that could serve as punctuation.

The hand of the pocket watch winds on with a sound like mocking laughter.

The label reads: RENATA. IN THE EVENT OF MY DEATH DESTROY WITHOUT READING.

How could anyone accuse Mr. Pawlikowski of something so awful?

She laughed and calmly walked naked to the end of Europe.

In my line of business, people don't talk much.

“You’re not going to fool around with your friend’s girlfriend.”

The phantoms behind the white sheet were moving more quickly now.

It was in New York that he learned the real ways of boxing.

The machines struggled with the mountain, snow sent punctuated volleys against the windshields. Black and roaring, the cars sowed alarm.

“Have you been watching too much ‘Animal Planet’ or what?!”

She often called at this underworld hangout.

The Old Man had been preparing for these questions twenty years now. Nothing could surprise him.

“Ayya won’t come to school on his bicycle anymore from now on, it seems, da.”

Someone had left the corpse on the bicycle.

“As if you have to ask that low-caste boy’s permission in order to see your own mother!”