“XXVIThere was set before me a mighty hill,And long days I climbedThrough regions of snow.When I had before me the summit-view,It seemed my laborHad been to see gardensLying at impossible distances.”

“This is me before I come undone. This is me before I fall apart. I've been tired for days and days. I've been tired for days and days.”

“For I knew already that something had taken me from me, and had replaced it with a desperate longing for a time before; a time before fear; a time before shame. And now that knowledge had a voice that rose from the depths of my years and howled into the night sky like a wounded animal longing for home.”

“She had left me thirsty and all my life would be thirst and longing for what I had lost before I found it.”

“And in truth (as I now see) I had the wish to put off my journey as long as I could. Not for any peril or labour it might cost; but because I could see nothing in the whole world for me to do once it was accomplished. As long as this act lay before me, there was, as it were, some barrier between me and the dead desert which the rest of my life must be.”

“I had my knife in hand before I realized I'd reached for it and had kicked open the...front door before it ever occurred to me that it might have already been unlocked.”