Do you know what the definition of insane is? Yes. Itโs the inability to relate to another human being. Itโs the inability to love.
Richard Yates...you found you were saying yes when you meant no, and โWeโve got to be together in this thingโ when you meant the very opposite ... and then you were face to face, in total darkness, with the knowledge that you didnโt know who you were. And how could anyone else be blamed for that?
Richard YatesWhat a subtle, treacherous thing it was to let yourself go that way! Because once you've started it was terribly difficult to stop; soon you were saying "I'm sorry, of course you're right", and "Whatever you think is best", and "you're the most wonderful and valuable thing int he world", and the next thing you knew all honesty, all truth, was as far away and glimmering, as hopelessly unattainable as the world of the golden people.
Richard YatesSynchronize watches at oh six hundred' says the infantry captain, and each of his huddled lieutenants finds respite from fear in the act of bringing two tiny pointers into jeweled alignment while tons of heavy artillery go fluttering overhead: the prosaic, civilian-looking dial of the watch has restored, however briefly, an illusion of personal control. Good, it counsels, looking tidily up from the hairs and veins of each terribly vulnerable wrist; fine: so far, everything's happening right on time.
Richard Yates