and what was the point of holding to a spontaneous promise made at the moment of parting? Far better to sever ties there and then, without

Ever since boyhood, I’d feared wasting any happiness that came my way; I’d always wanted to save some of it for later. This had caused me to miss many opportunities. Even so, I’d always been reluctant to wish for more, lest I frighten away my good fortune.

In my opinion, love was not an absolute category. There were many kinds of love, just as there were many ways in which people could show their affection for one another. The name and the shape changed to fit the circumstances.

This intimacy came from thinking alike; in truth, it came from accepting one side of an idea while preparing to pay the price demanded by the other. But isn’t this how souls come together, by holding another’s every idea to be true and making it their own?

A soul only came forward when it found its twin, when it felt no need to rely on mere words to explain itself … It was only then that we truly began to live – live with our soul.

we rarely seek that which we do not expect to find.

Why fret about a meaningless painting, a figment inspired by characters in books?

had yet to learn that nothing in this world can ever match the marvels that we conjure up in our own minds.

‘Now I know what’s been missing. It’s not anything in you, it’s in me … I cannot believe … I simply could not believe that you loved me that much and so I assumed I wasn’t in love with you … Now I understand. It seems that people have taken from me the ability to believe … but now I can … you’ve taught me how … I love you … not madly, but I love