“But remember that in order to symbolize everything to everyone, you will be both loved and hated.”

“I made the best mistakes. It was not like the sun came up or I stopped crying or I had any more power within me. It was not like all those sensual metaphors of awakening that keep you chained to hope. I still go to bed at night and hate—and hate knowing that the world's a mirror.”

“Virginia Woolf killed herself. She was a lesbian—or maybe she was just a woman writer.”

“The Thing Isto love life, to love it even when you have no stomach for it and everything you've held dear crumbles like burnt paper in your hands, your throat filled with the slit of it. When grief sits with you, its tropical heat thickening the air, heavy as water more fit for gills than lungs; when grief weights you like your own flesh only more of it, an obesity of grief, you think , how can a body withstand this? Then you hold like life a face between your palms, a plain face, no charming smile, no violet eyes, and you say, yes, I will take you I will love you, againEllen Bass”

“You're not crazy. In fact, you're perfect. Everything about you couldnt be more so if I made a list of all the qualities I wanted in a partner and special ordered you.”

“The magic words for a great relationship are, “I love you just the way you are.”

“Mmm.” The vibration in his chest pressed against her back shot sparks of hot lust through her. “I love you this way.” He guided his erection to nudge her entrance. “I love you every way.”Katya smiled and pushed back against him. “I love you, too.”