How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Just think: in all the clean beautiful reaches of the solar system, our planet alone is a blot; our planet alone has death. I have to acknowledge that the sea is a cup of death and the land is a stained alter stone. […] We are escapees. We wake in terror, eat in hunger, sleep with a mouthful of blood. (10.48)
There's no way of knowing that our planet alone has death, but this is still a pretty good description of the human condition. We're all dying, every minute. (Now go watch a funny movie to recover from that truth bomb. We'll be here when you're done—but please bring us back some Sour Patch Kids.)
Quote #8
It is the thorn in the flesh of the world, another sign, if any be needed, that the world is actual and fringed, pierced here and there, and through and through, with the toothed conditions of time and the mysterious, coiled spring of death. (13.37)
She's talking about parasitism here, having just contemplated larvae that grow to adulthood at the expense of their hosts. The world is full of parasites, and some eat your guts literally, while others do it figuratively. Either way, though, we're all food.
Quote #9
I am a sacrifice bound with cords to the horns of the world's rock altar, waiting for worms. (13.57)
No, there's not a new kind of worm sacrifice you haven't heard about—"waiting for worms" refers to what happens after death. We just hope the sacrifice doesn't involve being eaten alive by grasshoppers.