I’ll wait for you. Come back. The words were not meaningless, but they didn’t touch him now. It was clear enough - one person waiting for another was like an arithmetical sum, and just as empty of emotion. Waiting. Simply one person doing nothing, over time, while another approached. Waiting was a heavy word.

was it possible that i was, in the modern term, in denial?

It was not generally realized that what children mostly wanted was to be left alone.

At that moment, the urge to be writing was stronger than any notion she had of what she might write.

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

My needs were simple I didn't bother much with themes or felicitous phrases and skipped fine descriptions of weather, landscapes and interiors. I wanted characters I could believe in, and I wanted to be made curious about what was to happen to them. Generally, I preferred people to be falling in and out of love, but I didn't mind so much if they tried their hand at something else. It was vulgar to want it, but I liked someone to say 'Marry me' by the end.

The luxury of being half-asleep, exploring the fringes of psychosis in safety.