All those layers of silence upon silence.

I had the epiphany that laughter was light, and light was laughter, and that this was the secret of the universe.

One likes to think there's something in it, that old platitude amor vincit omnia. But if I've learned one thing in my short sad life, it is that that particular platitude is a lie. Love doesn't conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool.

Does such a thing as "the fatal flaw," that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature?

Sometimes we want what we want even if we know it’s going to kill us.

As I stood with her on the platform - she impatient, tapping her foot, leaning forward to look down the tracks - it seemed more than I could bear to see her go. Francis was around the corner, buying her a book to read on the train. 'I don't want you to leave,' I said. 'I don't want to, either.' 'Then don't.' 'I have to.' We stood looking at each other. It was raining. She looked at me with her rain-colored eyes. Camilla, I love you,' I said. 'Let's get married.

Love doesn't conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool.