Joan D. Vinge said this quote

[S]omehow, without his being aware of it, time had coated his awe with a rind of disillusionment, and the wine of wonder had turned to vinegar.

~ Joan D. Vinge

How time slips past, masked in the rhythm of the days!

~ Joan D. Vinge

I stood where they'd left me. I watched them get smaller and smaller as they went down the hallway, leaving me there without a word, not even looking back. Only I was getting smaller and smaller, being swallowed up in the suffocating emptiness of the silent house; so that by the time they came back again, I would have disappeared.

~ Joan D. Vinge

Don't worry. You're safe now. You've got nothing left to steal.

~ Joan D. Vinge