“A man’s desire is for the woman, but the woman’s desire is rarely other than for the desire of the man.”

“The desire of the man is for the woman, but the desire of the woman is for the desire of the man.”

“This is what you learned in college," the narrator tells you early on. "A man desires the satisfaction of his desire; a woman desires the condition of desiring.”

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.”

“Our desires cut across one another, and in this confused existence it is rare for happiness to coincide with the desire that clamoured for it.”

“Making love with a woman and sleeping with a woman are two separate passions, not merely different but opposite. Love does not make itself felt in the desire for copulation (a desire that extends to an infinite number of women) but in the desire for shared sleep (a desire limited to one woman).”