“…it seemed appropriate that I should develop some kind of illness. This is a good idea when you are at a loose end because everything, up to and including herpes, is better than being bored.”

“I'm so good at beginnings, but in the end I always seem to destroy everything, including myself.”

“I know that I might die but that seems a happier end than being without you and anyway it seems to me that looking in the face of hard things and still being able to move forward even when the end includes grave danger and the possibility of death is the mark of a man.”

“Wishing is the beginning of imagination. They practice wishing when they are young things, and then -when they have grown - they have a developed imagination. Which can do some harm - greed, that kind of thing - but more often does them some good. They can imagine that things might be different. Might be other than they seem. Could be better.”

“I should never have loved him . . I should never love anyone because it ends up being worse than being alone.”

“But that I should have ended up in a place like this seems too custom-made a nightmare to be the work of mere ill fortune.”