“It was the first time that I came face to face with madness and feared it and was fascinated by it.”

“Love . . . is like nature, but in reverse; first it fruits, then it flowers, then it seems to wither, then it goes deep, deep down into its burrow, where no one sees it, where it is lost from sight, and ultimately people die with that secret buried inside their souls.”

“That is the mystery about writing: it comes out of afflictions, out of the gouged times, when the heart is cut open.”

“I knew I had done something awful. I had killed love, before I even knew the enormity of what love meant.”

“I was lonelier than I should be, for a woman in love, or half in love.”

“Books everywhere. On the shelves and on the small space above the rows of books and all along the floor and under chairs, books that I have read, books that I have not read.”

“Brush those tears from your eyesAnd try and realizeThat from now onI'll always be true.I went awayBut I didn't mean to stayAnd I will regret it until my dying day.”