We have very primitive emotions,” he said . “It's impossible not to be competitive. Spoils everything, though.

we would be together and have our books and at night be warm in bed together with the windows open and the stars bright.

For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.

The thing is to become a master and in your old age to acquire the courage to do what children did when they knew nothing.

French is the language of diplomacy. Spanish is the language of bureaucracy.

I kept this to remind me of you trying to brush away the Villa Rossa from your teeth in the morning, swearing and eating aspirin and cursing harlots. Every time I see that glass I think of you trying to clean your conscience with a toothbrush.

You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintery light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person died for no reason.