"I have never had much trouble simultaneously entertaining diametrically opposed propositions, and welcome the possibility that this is not because I have one mind and am out of it, but because I have lots of them, all beavering away on their own."

"In your life there are a few places, or maybe only one place, where something has happened. And then there are the other places, which are just other places."

"The tiny share we have of time appalls me, though my father seems to regard it with tranquillity."

"You would think as you get older your mind would fill up with what they call the spiritual side of things, but mine just seems to get more and more practical, trying to get something settled."

"It is all about a girl who is more interested in politics than in love... the Russian censors will not let it be published and the world outside will not want it because it is so Russian."

"He takes up too much room, on the divan and in one's mind. It is simply impossible for me, in his presence, think of anything but him."

"If this were fiction, as I said, it would be too much, but it is true."

"Chronic means that it will be permanent but perhaps not constant."

"Half my concern in love became how to disguise love, to make it harmless and merry."

"My need for love had gone underground, like a canny toothache."

"A certain kind of seriousness in a girl could cancel out looks"

"What he carried with him, all he carried with him, was a lack, something like a lack of air, of proper behavior in his lungs, a difficulty that he supposed would go on forever."

"Writing this letter is like putting a note in a bottle— And hoping It will reach Japan."

"You would think that Rosemary would understand that. She should have understood what such a choice said - that Karin was not to be made happy, amends were not possible, forgiveness was out of the question."

"There were differences never to be mended, a word or an act never to be forgiven, a barrier never to be washed away."

"He could no more describe the feeling he got from her than you can describe a smell. It's like the scorch of electricity. It's like burnt kernels of wheat. No, it's like a bitter orange. I give up."

"A fluid choice, the choice of fantasy, is poured out on the ground and instantly hardens; it has taken its undeniable shape."

"He seemed happy. She thought that she seldom concerned herself about Laurence’s being happy. She wanted him to be in a good mood, so that everything would go smoothly, but that was not the same thing."

"So what about me? Would I always have to find a high horse? The moral relish, the rising above, the being in the right, which can make me flaunt my losses."

"Speculation can be more gentle, can take its time, when it is not driven by desire."

"The skin of everyday appearances stretched over such shamelessness, such consuming explosions of lust."

"Here's the thing about luck...you don't know if it's good or bad until you have some perspective."

"Every problem has a solution, although it may not be the outcome that was originally hoped for or expected."

"Unrequited love is so boring. Weeping under a blue-black sky is for suckers or maniacs."