“Modern civilisation is complicated and artificial. Simple folk live in a world of love and peace. Let no one hate another or harm another.”

“This is a diseased world in which it is impossible for anyone to be fully human. One way or another, everyone who lives in the modern world is sick or maladjusted.”

“The view that the truth is one and undivided, and the same for all men everywhere at all times, whether one finds it in the pronouncements of sacred books, traditional wisdom, the authority of churches, democratic majorities, observation and experiment conducted by qualified experts, or the convictions of simple folks uncorrupted by civilisation---this view, in one form or another, is central to western thought, which stems from Plato and his disciples.”

“We can always count on people to hate and to fear.To harm one another and to be harmed.To kill and be killed.It is what opens the gate.”

“But—”“But what? You love him, and he loves you, and you live in the most romantic city in the world.”I shake my head. “It’s not that simple.”“Then let me put it another way. A gorgeous boy is in love with you, and you’re not even gonna try to make it work?”

“A feeling rose in me, and I just let it, because what harm could it do? It only had another thirty-two adagio bars of life in this world. Twenty-four. Sixteen. Eight more bars in which I love you. Three. Two. One.”