We may not have demon fathers dangling offers of infernal power before us, but everyone understands what it means to struggle with temptation or resist the urge to give in to our baser natures.

Why is there ever this perverse cruelty in humankind, that makes us hurt most those we love best?

We speak of stories ending, when in truth it is we who end. The stories go on and on.

If you thought better of me, you would not be so surprised

To have a traitor for an ally is to have an enemy in waiting

But slight mistakes accumulate, and grow to gross errors if unchecked.

I would that I could have stopped time and preserved that day forever. It was a perfect day. There was the shadow of sorrow, yes. It would always be there. But that was the nature of life. The bright mirror and the dark, reflecting one another. And today there was so much brightness.