“For the first time she had dimly realized that only the hopeless are starkly sincere and that only the unhappy can either give or take sympathy--even some of the bitter and dangerous voluptuousness of misery.”

“There are times when the ocean is not the ocean - not blue, not even water, but some violent explosion of energy and danger: fierceness on a scale only gods can summon.”

“It is okay of talking about the past, as long as there's no bitterness and anger. It only gives you a heart attack. It won't change the past either.”

“A woman is like whiskey. She evaporates a little over time, distilled by disappointments and grief. One can never predict if the angels will take the best of her or the worst. Only time will tell is the woman that remains will be bitter, dispirited or aged to perfection..”

“Maybe I was unhappy for a lot of my marriage but didnt' realize it...She who is busy has no time to realize unhappiness. Now I have to wonder: why was I so busy in the first place? To fill a void I suspected was there but was afraid to acknowledge?”

“They were bound for college, husbands, child-rearing, unhappiness only dimly perceived—bound, in other words, for life.”