"You live in a world of symbols...

...every little thing you see or hear or otherwise experience is like a metaphor for your or someone else's internal state."

"Nuh-uh," I denied. "My world is an understudied text of varied literary styles, yet it belongs to no movement in particular. It is richly emblematic and contains many subtle references to other texts and their authors. And that last thing you said wasn't a metaphor, you know... I mean, I'm sure sure you do know, but it was actually a simile...'like or as'... What? I'm just saying."