“Contemporary' was in those days [1953] synonymous with 'modern' as it had not been before and is not now [1977].”

“This is where I have always been coming to. Since my time began. And when I go away from here, this will be the mid-point, to which everything ran, before, and from which everything will run. But now, my love, we are here, we are now, and those other times are running elsewhere.”

“What is it my dear?"Ah, how can we bear it?"Bear what?"This. For so short a time. How can we sleep this time away?"We can be quiet together, and pretend - since it is only the beginning - that we have all the time in the world."And every day we shall have less. And then none."Would you rather, therefore, have had nothing at all?"No. This is where I have always been coming to. Since my time began. And when I go away from here, this will be the mid-point, to which everything ran, before, and from which everything will run. But now, my love, we are here, we are now, and those other times are running elsewhere.”

“Randolph Henry Ash: “What is it? My dear?”Christabel LaMotte: “Ah, how can we bear it?”Randolph Henry Ash: “Bear what?”Christabel LaMotte: “This. For so short a time. How can we sleep this time away?”Randolph Henry Ash: “We can be quiet together, and pretend – since it is only the beginning – that we have all the time in the world.”Christabel LaMotte: “And every day we shall have less. And then none.”Randolph Henry Ash: “Would you rather, therefore, have had nothing at all?”Christabel LaMotte: “No. This is where I have always been coming to. Since my time began. And when I go away from here, this will be the mid-point, to which everything ran, before, and from which everything will run. But now, my love, we are here, we are now, and those other times are running elsewhere.”

“But now, my dear, we are here, we are now, and those other times are running elsewhere.”

“Something new, they had said. They had a perfect day for it. A day with the blue and gold good weather of anyone's primitive childhood expectations, when the new, brief memory tells itself that this is what is, and therefore was, and therefore will be. A good day to see a new place.”

“Frederica also thought, for she had been there many times, that if this was a beginning, it was the beginning of an ending, that was the way it went.”