China Men

Ocean people are different from land people. The ocean never stops saying and asking into ears, which don't sleep like eyes. Those who live by the sea examine the driftwood and glass balls that float from foreign ships. They let scores of invisible imps loose out of found bottles. In a scoop of salt water, they revive the dead blobs that have been beached in storms and tides: fins, whiskers, and gills unfold; mouths, eyes, and colors bloom and spread. Sometimes ocean people are given to understand the newness and oldness of the world; then all morning they try to keep that boundless joy like a little sun inside their chests. The ocean also makes its people know immensity. (p90)

Fancy lovers never last. (p81)

Mental work was harder than physical work, although it was not exactly the mind that teaching strained. (p41)

I don't want anybody attached to me forever with gratitude. (p85)

The hero's home has its own magic. (p81)

He repeated himself so often that some of what he said seeped into the ears. (p190)

As you know, any plain person you chance to meet can prove to be a powerful immortal in disguise come to test you. (p119)