No, but one can feel desperate at any age, don’t you think? The young are eternally desperate,” he said frankly. “And books, they offer hope — that a whole universe might open up from between the covers, and falling into that universe one is saved.

One will hate you for taking his life, another will run to excesses that you scorn. A third will emerge mad and raving, another a monster you cannot control. One will be jealous of your superiority, another shut you out... And the veil will always come down between you Make a legion, you will be, always and forever alone!

I’d thought I knew what beauty was in women; but she’d surpassed all the language I had for it.

A real devil among devils.

Maybe we do go home, finally.

I can’t help being a gorgeous fiend. It’s just the card I drew.