“Their marriage was cold and tedious. Formal and unloving. Stale even. She never had any regrets like this with Jack. With Jack, a rainy day would be cheerful.”

“So, lets make this a little interesting a race. If I win, then you have to polish every saddle and strap of leather of Byrons, including all brasses and buckles. Oh, and every one of my many pairs ...”

“I gripped hold of that scarf like my life depended on it. Still to this day I inhale it every night, despite what has happened over the years. I dont blame her now for not waiting. For all she knew...”

“Well, I did tell you I couldnt give you a thing. Maybe youve just realised that Alistair can give the god damn world, and the pleasure of kissing his shiny slap-head every day!”

“If I bother you so much, why did you let me kiss you again in that hospital? Is the reason to screw up my head more, to see if you still have the knack for it? Because congratulations Nell, youve s...”

“I will never return home to Elham. I cant. To see her would crush me. I need to let her go now. And I need to move on. Ive come to realise that she was right. We were two completely different peopl...”

“The soul, they say, is divine and the flesh is iniquity. But I am a musician and I ask this - without the wood and the strings of the violin, where would the sonata find form?”

“ I suppose that it is not so easy to go home and it takes a bit of time to make a son out of a stranger.”

“Everyone wanted me to be the bad boy, the label wanted it, the publicists wanted it, but I was just trying to be myself.”

“Were seastnan, we live to protect, sometimes we die and I cant think of a better way to go than fighting for someone I love.”

“Grandpa would go for strolls alone through the pastures where meadowlarks and grasshoppers flew like broken-winged birds, where rabbits constructed their havens, and where thick-coated coyotes and ...”

“I love him more than any man on earth. Hes everything. One look across a library instantly and irrevocably changed both of our lives forever and now we cant get out trapped together because this ...”