“There's so much to lose.""There always is," she said.I sighed and reached for another biscuit. "Are you always this wise, Ruth?""Only when it comes to other people's lives.”

“Are you always this wise, Ruth?" "Only when it comes to other people's lives.”

“In some ways, it was as if nothing had changed. Our bodies knew each other so well we didn’t have to think about how to move. But when it was over and we lay still, I felt a terrible sadness come down because I loved him as much as I ever did.”

“The worst events always have the thrust of accidents, as if they come out of nowhere. But that's just lack of perspective.”

“People belong to each other only as long as they both believe. He stopped believing.”

“You are everything good and straight and fine and true—and I see that so clearly now, in the way you’ve carried yourself and listened to your own heart. You’ve changed me more than you know, and will always be a part of everything I am. That’s one thing I’ve learned from this. No one you love is ever truly lost.”

“We knew what we had and what it meant, and though so much had happened since for both of us, there was nothing like those years in Paris, after the war. Life was painfully pure and simple and good, and I believed Ernest was his best self then. I got the very best of him. We got the best of each other.”