“What I want is to live of that initial and primordial something that was what made some things reach the point of aspiring to be human.”

“Who has not asked himself at some time or other: am I a monster or is this what it means to be a person?”

“And I want to be held down. I don't know what to do with the horrifying freedom that can destroy me.”

“To know when to quit. Whether to give up--this is often the question facing the gambler. No one is taught the art of walking away. And the anguish of deciding if I should keep playing is hardly unusual. Will I be able to quit honorably? or am I the type who waits stubbornly for something to happen? something like, for instance, the end of the world? or whatever it might be, maybe my own sudden death, in which case my decision to give up would be beside the point.”

“Things were somehow so good that they were in danger of becoming very bad because what is fully mature is very close to rotting”

“How was she to tie herself to a man without permitting him to imprison her? And was there some means of acquiring things without those things possessing her?”

“It is because I dove into the abyss that I am beginning to love the abyss I am made of.”