“People don't get to our ages without having pasts. I'm more interested in the future.”

“Falling in love was easy-when romantic attraction was combined with hungry, unsated desire, they formed a glamorous, glittering bauble as fragile as it was alluring, a bauble that could shatter as soon as it was grasped.Tenderness was a different story. It had staying power and the promise of a future.”

“...the collective wisdom of humanity [is] enshrined in its poetry.”

“...I should have people around bugging me and getting under my skin because without people I could not grow - I could not grow in God, and I could not grow as a human.”

“I am not sleeping with you.""We could probably manage it, though. Without getting too involved.""No," she said."But why? I mean, if we're trusted friends? And it doesn't interfere with our responsibilities?""Did that line ever actually work for you?""I can't remember. But it probably did-it's brilliant.”

“...sometimes there are moments in your life that are more important than some of the other moments but that they can slip past you before you get a chance to look at them closely enough, the way a leaf sweeps past you in a river and disappears.”

“But you were concerned about making sure things, you know, didn't get serious.""Yeah, because I'm an idiot.”