The hands of the guilty don't necessarily tremble; only in stories does a dropped glass betray agitation. Tension is more often shown in the studied action.

There was always another side to a joke, the side of the victim.

Like the characters in Chekhov, they have no reserves -– you learn the most intimate secrets. You get an impression of a world peopled by eccentrics, of odd professions, almost incredible stupidities, and, to balance them, amazing endurances.

I had never known her before and I had never loved her so much. The more we know the more we love, I thought.

A brain is only capable of what it could conceive, andit couldnt concieve what it hasnt experienced

He gave her a bright fake smile; so much of life was a putting off of unhappiness for another time. Nothing was ever lost by delay. He had a dim idea that perhaps if one delayed long enough, things were taken out of one's hands altogether by death.

There is a point of no return, unremarked at the time, in most lives.