You're incredibly beautiful,' I told her, because she was fat, so I thought it would be an especially nice compliment, and also make her like me again, even though I was sexist.

I will describe my eyes and then begin the story. My eyes are blue and resplendent. Now I will begin the story.

If we communicated with something like music, we would never be misunderstood, because there is nothing in music to understand.

This brings me back to the image of Kafka standing before a fish in the Berlin aquarium, a fish on which his gaze fell in a newly found peace after he decided not to eat animals. Kafka recognized that fish as a member of his invisible family- not as his equal, of course, but as another being that was his concern.

I never confused what I had with what I was.

It’s much easier to be cruel than one might think.

We shared the smile of recognizing ourselves in each other.