“He wanted and needed their love, but felt none towards them. He now had neither love nor humility nor purity”

“If you accept such love with purity and humility, you will understand that Love is neither giving nor receiving -it is participating.”

“He looked on people, and he neither liked nor disliked them. He looked on life and was neither heartened nor saddened.”

“Lord Rodrik Harlaw was neither fat nor slim; neither tall nor short; neither ugly nor handsome. His hair was brown, as were his eyes, though the short, neat beard he favored had gone grey. All in all, he was an ordinary man, distinguished only by his love of written words.”

“He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy. He never dreamed about the boy. He simply woke, looked out the open door at the moon and unrolled his trousers and put them on.”

“He understood then that neither time nor distance had lessened his love for her.But was love that made him ache with suffering truly worth fighting for?”