“Were happier when the assholes are villains.”

“Death is almost never timely, even for the old.”

“Art is long and life is short.”

“Penicillin was as liberating for gay sex as the pill had been for straight sex.”

“Trust the tale, not the teller.”

“A younger writer, David Leavitt, would later say he envied White for having such a representative life. And its true: the zeitgeist blew through White more easily than it did through most people.”

“To create art with all the passion in one's soul is to live art with all the beauty in one's heart.”

“art is risk made visible”

“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”

“The only queer people are those who don't love anybody.”

“Yeah, the whole family knows. It's no big deal. One night at dinner I said, 'Mom, you know the forbidden love that Spock has for Kirk? Well, me too.' It was easier for her to understand that way.”

“I love you. The words reverberated between them, sinking into their skin, scored onto their hearts as they staked their claims to each others bodies, surrendering themselves and possessing each oth...”