Outside books, we avoid colorful characters.

Hypocrisy is the outside of cynicism.

Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.

[At the same time, Mosley struggles to avoid turning his colorful characters into one-dimensional cartoons. One of his recurring characters, Jackson Blue, is a case in point.] If there's anybody who's 'street' in the world, it's Jackson Blue, ... But Jackson, he's reading Cicero.

The beloved is the ultimate fetish.

My passions have never jumped out of the fireplace and set fire to the carpet.