“With stammering lips and insufficient sound I strive and struggle to deliver right the music of my nature.”

“This doesn't change anything," I stammered, my defenses fading."It changes everything." He sounded so sure of himself as his soft lips silenced my weak protest.”

“For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man’s, as though there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air. But they made no sound, and what I had almost remembered was uncommunicable forever”

“Music is the only religion that delivers the goods.”

“In the aftermath, we lay side by side, struggling for breath. I reached out, brushing my fingers lightly down his arm. Cesare seized my hand and pressed it to his lips. We remained like that as slowly the world righted itself.”

“Love isn't a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.”