“A life was a story, and a story was nothing more than a promise that something bad would happen. It was a promise that people would desire and want and ache and burn, but it was not a promise that ...”

“Worry only about what you control. The rest is war.”

“Youll never let me go, will you? Giving me the space and freedom I want isnt your idea of love, is it? Youd rather cut me deep on earth to spare me pain in hell, whereas I think hell is right here.”

“The world he had left was not ready for his return, or rather, he was not ready to return to the world he had left.”

“I did exactly what you told me to do, Nick. Didn't you tell me to just write the stupid book already? And that even doing the worst thing on the planet had to count for something? Well I can't thin...”

“For the good that I would: I do not, but the evil which I would not, I do.”

“What was it like? Hell if I know. But next time someone asks.... I'll answer crooked, and I'll answer long. And when they get confused or angry, I'll smile. Finally, I'll think. Someone who underst...”

“Worry only about what you control. The rest is war.”

“Youll never let me go, will you? Giving me the space and freedom I want isnt your idea of love, is it? Youd rather cut me deep on earth to spare me pain in hell, whereas I think hell is right here.”

“We are on strike, we, the men of the mind.We are on strike against self-immolation. We are on strike against the creed of unearned rewards and unrewarded duties. We are on strike against the dogma ...”

“If only it were possible to love without injury fidelity isnt enough: I had been faithful to Anne and yet I had injured her. The hurt is in the act of possession: we are too small in mind and body...”

“She looks at the swings, and I can see shes imagining what theyd look like if the kids werent there. The guilt of this holds her down momentarily. It appears to be there constantly. Never far away,...”

“here she is, all mine, trying her best to give me all she can. How could I ever hurt her? But I didnt understand then. That I could hurt somebody so badly she would never recover. That a person can...”

“Any happiness, no matter how brief, seemed better than the long, simmering torture of waking up day after day, knowing I could never have him.”

“Everyone always wants to know how you can tell when it's true love, and the answer is this: when the pain doesn't fade and the scars don't heal, and it's too damned late.”