“It's not the rejection. I can handle the rejection. It's the hope I can't stand.”

“Love is not like choosing a partner for whist. It has a life of its own. our duty is merely to follow its call.”

“I loved you so much once. I did. More than anything in the whole wide world. Imagine that. What a laugh that is now. Can you believe it? We were so intimate once upon a time I can't believe it now. The memory of being that intimate with somebody. We were so intimate I could puke. I can't imagine ever being that intimate with somebody else. I haven't been.”

“There is no answer. It's okay. But even if it wasn't okay, what am I supposed to do?”

“I've crossed some kind of invisible line. I feel as if I've come to a place I never thought I'd have to come to. And I don't know how I got here. It's a strange place. It's a place where a little harmless dreaming and then some sleepy, early-morning talk has led me into considerations of death and annihilation.”

“I think a little menace is fine to have in a story. For one thing, it's good for the circulation.”

“I felt a subtle sense of disappointment as I left the morgue.”