This made me laugh out loud in a busy restaurant:

“What Mahalia was doing was trying to decide what the title of her project called ‘A Hermeneutics of Identity’ from the layouts of gears and so on.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“Then she did a good job. The aim of a PhD’s to ensure that no one, including your advisor, understands what you’re doing after the first couple of years.”

( From The City & The City, pg. 89.) 📚