My prize, my pleasure and pain, my endless desire. I've never know anyone like you.

It was unfair that people who longed for love the most, searched the hardest for it, found it so elusive.

I realized I wasn't going to find a man until I was willing to expose myself to possible harm, to assume the risks of rejection and betrayal and heartbreak that came along with caring about someone. Someday, I promised myself, I would be ready for that kind of risk.

I lacked some essential skill for attracting people, for giving and receiving love easily. It meant too much to me. I seemed to be driving away the people I most wanted. Finally I had realized that getting someone to love you was like trying to coax a bird to perch on your finger . . . it wouldn't happen unless you stopped trying so hard.

There were times in life when you had to take a risk that might end in failure. Because otherwise you would be haunted by what you hadn’t done... the paths you hadn’t taken, the things you hadn’t experienced.

One can't help but marvel at the variety of ways that women had devised to make us look like flaming idiots.

He'll survive," he answered her. "Just as he's survived everything else in his life. But he'll never be the same.