Life would go out in a 'fraction of a second' (that was the phrase), but all night he had been realizing that time depends on clocks and the passage of light. There were no clocks and the light wouldn't change. Nobody really knew how long a second of pain could be. It might last a whole purgatory--or for ever.

Who knows whether there may not be a moment in childhood when the world changes forever, like making a face when the clock strikes?

In human relationships, kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths.

Politics, war, marriage, crime, adultery. Everything that exists in the world has something to do with money.

Death was far more certain than God.

A man kept his character even when he was insane.

To be in love is to see yourself as someone else sees you, it is to be in love with the falsified and exalted image of yourself. In love we are incapable of honor - the courageous act is no more than playing a part to an audience of two.