“How could he give her so much, yet leave her so little.”

“How could he love her when she’d destroyed so much?”

“You're so kind, Kazuhiko. That's what I like about you." I like you, too. I love you so much." If he weren't so inarticulate, Kazuhiko could have said so much more. How much her expression, her gentle manner, her pure untainted soul meant to him. How important, in short, her existence was to him. But he wasn't able to put into words. He was only a third-year student in junior high, and worst yet, composition was one of his worst subjects.”

“We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power.”

“He wished to cover her with his body, possess her-for if he could do that, he could pretend to himself that she was safe. Covering her so...he might protect her. Or so he felt, even knowing how senseless the feeling was.”

“Yet Gregor's sisterwas playing so beautifully. Her face was leant to one side,following the lines of music with a careful and melancholyexpression. Gregor crawled a little further forward, keeping hishead close to the ground so that he could meet her eyes if thechance came.”