My new friend, Eloise

  "The words were still clear on the thick yellow page but the paper crumbled like bread and a bakery smell rose in her nostrils. Words surely have meanings, she thought, and there is my trouble. Something happens to words coming to me from other people. Something happens to my words. They do not seem worth uttering.
  "People don't mean what they say. Words often mean their opposites.
  "If a person says to you: I hate to tell you this, but...she doesn't hate to tell you. She likes to tell you. This is a good place to make a new start with words."  Walker Percy, The Second Coming