“Ever is a long time. But the boy knew what he knew. That ever is no time at all.”

“The frailty of everything revealed at last. Old and troubling issues resolved into nothingness and night. The last instance of a thing takes the class with it. Turns out the light and is gone. Look around you. Ever is a long time. But the boy knew what he knew. That ever is no time at all.”

“I see you,” he said ever so softly. I knew exactly what he meant, because I too saw myself for the first time.”

“It was the first time I had ever made love. I wondered if he knew that. It felt like crying. I wondered, Why does anyone ever make love?”

“The boy knew a lot of people in the city. That was was what made traveling appeal to him-- he always made new friends, and he didn't need to spend all if his time with them.”

“Only once or twice in her life had she ever understood all of him, but the part of him which she knew, she knew intricately and well. No little appetite or pain, no carelessness or meanness in him escaped her; no thought or dream or longing in him ever reached her. And yet several times in her life she had seen the stars.”