“New affairs were exciting but theywere also hard work. The first kiss, the first fuck had some drama. People were interesting at first. Then later, slowly but surely, all the flaws and madness would manifest themselves. I would become less and less to them; they would mean less and less to me.”

“No, the less I see them the better i like them.”

“The less I needed, the better I felt.”

“Dear child, I only did to youwhat the sparrowdid to you; I am old when it isfashionable to be young; I cry when it isfashionable to laugh.I hated you when it would have taken less courage to love.”

“All our days are marked with/unexpected/affronts--some/disastrous, others/less so/but the process is/wearing and/continuous./Attrition rules./Most give/way/leaving/empty spaces/where people should/be.”

“There were no judgments to be made, yet out of necessity one had to select. Beyond good and evil was all right in theory, but to go on living one had to select: some were kinder than others, some were simply more interested in you, and sometimes the outwardly beautiful and inwardly cold were necessary. The kinder ones fucked better, really, and after you were around them a while they seemed beautiful because they were.”

“there's no release, just gurus and self- appointed gods and hucksters. the more people say, the less there is to say.”