When a man dies, his secrets bond like crystals, like frost on a window. His last breath obscures the glass.

I'm naive enough to think that love is always good no matter how long ago, no matter the circumstances.

Important lessons: look carefully; record what you see. Find a way to make beauty necessary; find a way to make necessity beautiful.

Like other ghosts, she whispers; not for me to join her, but so that, when I'm close enough, she can push me back into the world.

History is the gradual instant

When you are alone - at sea, in the polar dark - an absence can keep you alive. The one you love maintains your mind. But when she's merely across the city, this is an absence that eats you to the bone.

The best teacher lodges an intent not in the mind but in the heart.