“Decadence begins with the loss of restraint.”

“Decadence is the total loss of unconsciousness, which is the very basis of life. Could it think, the heart would stop beating.”

“I think anyone who opened their heart enough to love without restraint and subsequently were devastated by loss knows that in that moment you are forever changed; a apart of you is no longer whole. Some will never again love with that level of abandon where life is perceived as innocent and the threat of loss seems implausible. Love and loss, therefore, are linked.”

“This is what making love must be like, she thinks. At twelve years old, she understands little more than that it will begin with loss - the loss of virginity, the loss of innocence - but that at some point there stands to be a gain.”

“Hope in the beginning feels like such a violation of the loss, and yet without it we couldn't survive.”

“The decade is over, time to begin forgivingold sins. Thirteen years since your deathon a Florida interstate - and againa dream of an old wrong.”