“Anyone who has not experienced the ecstasy of betrayal knows nothing about ecstasy at all.”

“Anyone who hasn't experienced the ecstasy of betrayal knows nothing of ecstasy at all.”

“Betrayal is beautiful.”

“But I shall transmit their names far down the ages. These names alone will remain in the future, divested of their objects. Who, it will be asked, were Bulkaen, Harcamone, Divers, who was Pilorge, who was Guy? And their names will inspire awe, as we are awed by the light from a star that has been dead a thousand years. Have I told all there was to tell of this adventure? If I take leave of this book, I take leave of what can be related. The rest is ineffable. I say no more and walk barefoot.”

“The despondency that follows makes me feel somewhat like a shipwrecked man who spies a sail, sees himself saved, and suddenly remembers that the lens of his spyglass has a flaw, a blurred spot -- the sail he has seen.”

“They spent their time doing nothing... they let intimacy fuse them.”

“The pimp has a grin, never a smile.”