“Over time his images of the baby, like photographs handled too often, had worn down and creased, lost their definition. ”

“His face was very heavily creased, and into each crease he had tucked some worry or other, so that it wasn't really his face any longer, but more like a tree that had nests of birds in all of the branches. He had to struggle constantly to manage it and always looked worn out from the effort.”

“[He] didn’t like to think of himself as vain, but there were definitely times when he wished there was someone on hand to take his photograph.”

“Very often we write down a sentence too early, then another too late; what we have to do is write it down at the proper time, otherwise it's lost.”

“Max had once read in one of his father's books that some childhood images become engraved in the mind like photographs, like scenes you can return to again and again and will always remember, no matter how much time goes by.”

“I felt like an undeveloped photograph that he was printing, my image rising to the surface under his gaze.”