It wasn't torpor that kept her - she was often restless to the point of irritability. She simply liked to feel that she was prevented from leaving, that she was needed.

Someone once asked me "If your life could be extended to 150 and you could start another career, would you?" And I said "No, thanks, I think I'll stick at this."

A person is, among all else, a material thing, easily torn and not easily mended.

Most of humanity gets by without reading novels or poetry, and no one would deny the richness of their thoughts.

What was it with men, that they found elementary logic so difficult?

However, withered, I still feel myself to be exactly the same person I've always been. Hard to explain that to the young. we may look truly reptilian, but we're not a separate tribe.

I'm holding back, delaying the information. I'm lingering in the prior moment because it was a time when other outcomes were still possible.