we had made love without love, half-dressed most of the time and always in the dark so we could imagine ourselves as better than we were.

If I knew that today would be the last time I’d see you, I would hug you tight and pray the Lord be the keeper of your soul. If I knew that this would be the last time you pass through this door, I’d embrace you, kiss you, and call you back for one more. If I knew that this would be the last time I would hear your voice, I’d take hold of each word to be able to hear it over and over again. If I knew this is the last time I see you, I’d tell you I love you, and would not just assume foolishly you know it already.

The only thing he could do to stay alive was not to allow himself the anguish of that memory. He erased it from his mind, although from time to time in the years that were left to him he would feel it revive, with no warning and for no reason, like the sudden pang of an old scar.

He is ugly and sad, but he is all love.

More than mother and son, they were accomplices in solitude.

It is not that the girl is unfit for everything, it is that she is not of this world.

A lie is more comfortable than doubt, more useful than love, more lasting than truth.