“...because he had been waiting for someone to come back to him, so every time someone knocked on the door, he couldn't stop himself from hoping it might be that person, even though he knew he shouldn't hope.”

“He could hope for many things, though he had stopped doing so long ago. If one didn't hope, then disappointment didn't visit. Hoping meant you had somehting to live for, and living for something or someone else was asking for pain. -Nik”

“Perhaps he had been waiting all along for someone to knock him down and allow him to drop the weight he’d so faithfully carried.”

“But he'd never been in love. He knew that was what he was really asking himself. He'd never given himself to someone else completely. He'd always held something back, even if he hadn't known that he was doing it. He'd reserved the deepest part of him, the part that truly was him, because he'd feared that once he gave it away he would never get it back.”

“There comes a time in every scoundrel’s life when he catches a glimpse of what he might have been. Only if he catches it in the reflection of the right woman’s eye, is there hope for reform. —From The Dulcet Duke”

“By dint of waiting, he hoped his heart would wear out and stop beating. What other way was there to stop loving someone?”