I am empty of everything. I am empty of everything but the thin, frail ghosts in my room.

Stephan was secretive and a liar, but he was a very gentle and expert lover. She was the petted, cherished child, the desired mistress, the worshipped, perfumed goddess. She was all these things to Stephan - or so he made her believe.

The musty smell, the bugs, the lonliness, this room, which is part of the street outside-this is all I want from life.

I hadn't bargained for this. I didn't think it would be like this - shabby clothes, worn-out shoes, circles under your eyes, your hair getting straight and lanky, the way people look at you. ... I didn't think it would be like this

Something in her brain that still remained calm told her that she was doing a very foolish thing indeed.

You can pretend for a long time, but one day it all falls away and you are alone. We are alone in the most beautiful place in the world.

You imagine the carefully pruned, shaped thing that is presented to you is truth. That is just what it isn't. The truth is improbable, the truth is fantastic; it's in what you think is a distorting mirror that you see the truth.