I’ve built a wall around me, never letting anybody inside and trying not to venture outside myself

How about Proust's In Search of Lost Time?" Tamaru asked. "If you've never read it this would be a good opportunity to read the whole thing." "Have you read it?" "No, I haven't been in jail, or had to hide out for a long time. Someone once said unless you have those kinds of opportunities, you can't read the whole of Proust.

It is sometimes necessary for each person. Fill up with delicious food, get drunk, sing loudly and chat frivolously.

I used to run a full marathon in three hours and 25 or 26 minutes. Not any more.

You are a beautiful person, Doctor. Clearheaded. Strong. But you seem always to be dragging your heart along the ground. From now on, little by little, you must prepare yourself to face death. If you devote all of your future energy to living, you will not be able to die well. You must begin to shift gears, a little at a time. Living and dying are, in a sense, of equal value.

Time flows in strange ways on Sundays, and sights become mysteriously distorted.

I happen to like the strange ones. People who look normal and leads normal lives - they're the ones you have to watch out for.