“Tenderness is a deeper instinct than seduction, which is why it is so hard to give up hope.”

“Writing is seduction. Good talk is part of seduction. If not so, why do so many couples who start the evening at dinner wind up in bed?”

“A sacrament--like marriage--means living a life better than your natural instincts, so that you're modeling God. And God never gives up.”

“Why were they whining then?...whining, damn them, whining… Because they’d have to give up their hope of living like an animal and return to an honest, conscious, human life. The prospect was hard.”

“Real courage is not to give up hope, even in the most terrible darkness, and to carry on. That if courage and love is deep as despair, deeper, then light may come again”

“Society is primarily concerned with appearances… and this is why it tends to be highly deluded. Deeper understanding will often give you a very different perspective than that held by the majority.”