“We stand a professional distance apart, as if I cant feel his pain screaming in my head. Mine amplifies his; they share a joint soundthat of glass breakinguntil they swell to a crescendo that deafens.”

“More than most, I know the pain of surviving.”

“What you said about the sweetest pain? That fits us.”

“. . . and I dont expect him to suborn his life into mine any more than I would change my dreams for him. Were not one soul, one being, however much we love each other.”

“For I need this scar over my heart to remind me. Crazy as it sounds, if I can bear the wound on my body, it lessens what I must carry on my soul. How he knew that about me, I cannot fathom.”

“He is not the same person as when wemet, but . . . neither am I. Time has refined us, but instead of pushing us apart, were closer than ever.”

“It's easier to bleed than sweat, Mr. Motes.”

“Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.”

“Many smiling faces hide a bleeding heart”

“Loving God is a display of the heart”

“The most thought to keep in mind is that "players" gain money at the end of each game while "spectators" lose it for a ticket in order to see the gainful players display their skills. Don't you wan...”

“Here is your most profound "why": to display and prove GOD”

“Pain is not the same as suffering. Left to itself, the body discharges pain spontaneously, letting go of it the moment that the underlying cause is healed. Suffering is pain that we hold on to. It ...”

“In pleasant peace and security How suddenly the soul in a man begins to die He shall look up above the stalled oxen Envying the cruel falcon, And dig under the straw for a stone To bruise himself on.”

“It is amazing, though, what pains your subconscious will undergo in achieve sustainable peace.”