“Are these things really better than the things I already have? Or am I just trained to be dissatisfied with what I have now?”

“I will tell you another thing that would be better, and that is, if I myself believe even an iota of what I have just written. I swear to you, gentlemen, that I do not really believe one thing, not even one word, of what I have just written. That is, I believe it, perhaps, but at the same time, I feel suspect that I am lying myself blue in the face.”

“Is it better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all...But is it? Is it really better to know a thing you love only to lose it?If I'd known then what I know now...But that's the thing, isn't it? When you're living a thing...you don't know. You take it for granted, like a dog being petted, assuming it will somehow go on forever.If I'd known what I know now...I'd have touched everything in sight, everything I could get my hands on. I'd have grabbed the nearest girl I could find and not even caring how crazy she thought me, touched my hands to her face just to know what that feels like.Is it better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all?I, never having loved before, have no real answer to that question.”

“But forget all that--it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun!”

“As a child I felt mostly alone. Now, having been trained as a psychologist, I am still, because I know things and must hint at things which others apparently know nothing of, and for the most part do not want to know.”

“I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have than to have things I am not able to appreciate.”