At the same time, you have to find the right distance between people. Too close, and they overwhelm you, too far and they abandon you. How to hold them in the right relation?

But in love each moment is magnified, and every gesture, word and syllable is examined like a speech by the President.

Without love, most of life remains concealed. Nothing is as fascinating as love, unfortunately.

Soon we will be strangers. No, we can never be that. Hurting someone is an act of reluctant intimacy. We will be dangerous acquaintances with a history.

How disturbing it is that our illusions are often our most important beliefs.

My father was a civil servant, so having a regular job, being respectable is a big deal for me. Respectable in the sense that I support my family. That's what I mean by respectability.

The cruellest thing you can do to Kerouac is reread him at thirty-eight.