“expectation isn't the same as desire”

“We lived, as usual by ignoring. Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.”

“Maybe none of this is about control. Maybe it really isn't about who can own whom, who can do what to whom and get away with it, even as far as death. Maybe it isn't about who can sit and who has to kneel or stand or lie down, legs spread open. Maybe it's about who can do what to whom and be forgiven for it. Never tell me it amounts to the same thing.”

“But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest.Maybe none of this is about control. Maybe it isn't really about who can own whom, who can do what to whom and get away with it, even as far as death. Maybe it isn't about who can sit and who has to kneel or stand or lie down, legs spread open. Maybe it's about who can do what to whom and be forgiven for it. Never tell me it amounts to the same thing.”

“The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one.”

“He needed to exist only in the present, without guilt, without expectation.”

“He throws out radiance, it must be reflected sun. Why isn't everyone staring?”