“He is afraid, as suddenly he knows that he was afraid all along, that if he felt her body so close to him he would never let her go.”

“I love you,' he whispered again, wonderingly, as he understood at last how a lifetime together with someone that you loved could seem like an eternity, and yet not be long enough.”

“Life scars us with its random motion, he thought. Only death is perfect.”

“But what force in the galaxy is stronger than she is?""Indifference." Jerusha surprised herself with the answer. "Indifference, Gundhalinu, is the strongest force in the universe. It makes everything it touches meaningless. Love and hate don't stand a chance against it. It lets neglect and decay and monstrous injustice go unchecked. It doesn't act, it allows. And that's what gives it so much power.”

“To be alive was to be disappointed. You tried and failed and kept on trying, never knowing whether you'd ever get what you wanted. But sometimes we get what we need.”

“All medical men are voyeurs. Why else would they become doctors? Except for the sadists, of course, who simply enjoy the blood and the pain.”

“It doesn't matter. I'm not asking forever of you...just let me love you now.”