He had a hard time listening to people whose voices sounded as if they knew they were likable.

I am convinced, after years of study, that surfing is the truest model of incarnate existence. Not that I’ve ever surfed, or could explain the justifications for my statement. That would take years.

I had always respected them, expecting nothing in return, which there wasn’t.

Bombast: thoughts and images too great for subject.
Paralysis:

The way I like to look at a photograph is to imagine that the person who took it knew that this was the last thing they would ever see.

A contagion of insanity is loose in the land.

An unfortunate sequence of poor decisions had brought him here, to this chair, in the dark, unable to feel his feet.

I did my best, which is nothing, which is what you’ve come to expect.

Each morning he stepped out, felt the air on his skin, and gave thanks for this new reprieve.

Reflected in the cafe window he saw a man of whom no one would take second notice, nor guess at his former imagined glories.

He was someone who could at the same time be held in the highest esteem and lowest contempt.

The things you joke about during the day can fill you with horror in the middle of the night.