I had traded the fight against love for the fight against loneliness, the fight against life for the fight against death.

As he took her hand she saw him look her over from head to foot, a gesture she recognized and that made her feel at home, but gave her always a faint feeling of superiority to whoever made it. If her person was property she could exercise whatever advantage was inherent in its ownership.

The mind of a little child is fascinating, for it looks on old things with new eyes-but at about twelve this changes. The adolescent offers nothing, can do nothing, say nothing that the adult cannot do better.

Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known.

The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain.

Travel, which had once charmed him, seemed, at length, unendurable, a business of color without substance, a phantom chase after his own dream's shadow.

Find the key emotion; this may be all you need know to find your short story.