“Cassie," I said, "we've been through this. Once more, with feeling: I remember sweet shining fuck-all.”

“I miss everything about youCan't believe that I still want youAnd after all the things we've been through”

“We've been an empire in decline since I can remember," Ketchum said bluntly; he wasn't kidding. "We are a lost nation, Danny. Stop farting around.”

“Is it too late?" I asked Margot Cherry that afternoon. It's been more than thirty years and still I can remember how my voice shook. "How do we know when we've loved someone all that we can?”

“Deep down we've never been who we think we once were, and we only remember what never happened.”

“It feels as though Tony's a ghost, a wisp of someone I once loved, or never loved at all and thought was someone else. I don't feel anything, not even when he fucks me. I wonder if he knows. I wonder if he believes I still want him. I always tell myself it's the last time, but I don't leave. i exist instead inside this shell of a life we've created.”