That's the kind of death that frightens me. The shadow of death slowly, slowly eats away at the region of life, and before you know it everything's dark and you can't see, and the people around you think of you as more dead than alive.

I don't think jealousy has much of a connection with real, objective conditions. Like if you're fortunate you're not jealous, but if life hasn't blessed you, you are jealous. Jealousy doesn't work that way. It's more like a tumor secretly growing inside us that gets bigger and bigger, beyond all reason. Even if you find out it's there, there's nothing you can do to stop it.

Not just beautiful, though--the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they're watching me.

The body is not the only target of rape. Violence does not always take a visible form, and not all wounds gush blood.

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

I go by the gut. I might not appear to have any talent but I've got plenty of gut instinct.

Someone once said that nothing costs more and yields less benefit than revenge,” Aomame said. “Winston Churchill. As I recall it, though, he was making excuses for the British Empire’s budget deficits. It has no moral significance.