He was healthier than the rest of us, but when you listened with the stethoscope you could hear the tears bubbling inside his heart.

Life had already given him sufficient reasons for knowing that no defeat was the final one.

Because he had not done what she, with her heart in her mouth, had hoped he would do, which was to be a man: deny everything, and swear on his life it was not true, and grow indignant at the false accusation, and shout curses at this ill-begotten society that did not hesitate to trample on one's honor, and remain imperturbable even when forced with crushing proofs of his disloyalty.

If you lie down in a village square hoping to capture a sea gull, you could stay there your whole life without succeeding. But a hundred miles from shore it's different. Sea gulls have a highly developed instinct for self-preservation on land but at sea they're very cocky.

I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of Him.

It was the time when they loved each other best, without hurry or excess, when both were most conscious of and grateful for their incredible victories over adversity.

I don't have a method. All I do is read a lot, think a lot, and rewrite constantly. It's not a scientific thing.