Alice Borchardt citations

“He was conscious that something in [his] personality bolstered his confidence and allowed him to rest, to seek peace and find it. He never game a name to it, and never spoke of it. And never, never would he have allowed himself or anyone to call it – love”

“I know love is eternal, so also are folly, lies and roses.”

“Love doesn’t go away because we want it to, but remains even when it becomes a searing pain, leaving the heart a desert of bitter remorse and grief for joy, a happiness that once has been and now never could return. There had been a time when simply to touch this little bit of linen he held now so casually brought every aching moment of that love back. The sense of desolate pain-drenched loss traveled up his arm, enclosing his heart like a set of icy fingers. A time when to look upon what it held was unbearable”

“Death alone gives meaning to life, and you will never fully live until you know you must die. And make your peace with that knowledge.”

“Women are weak, easily swayed by passion, driven by desire, lust. He lit a fire in her body, a fire that still burned, even in his absence”

“the little death. What would or could be left of a human being after such an experience?”

“Remember this central truth. Your enemy is there because he, too, has weighed the consequences of failure and accepts them. Play always to win, because nothing else matters”

“you’re frightening me” “be frightened. Sometimes its very intelligent to be afraid””

“You, why do you let me say such things when and where I shouldn’t?” “the problem is not ordering the course of your speech. Its shutting you up in the first place””

“He said truth has a taste, and this had the taste of truth. A wolf would put it that way, but I agree it does. Some things just don’t hang together, but others do. And a lot of times when you encounter it, you say, “I don’t want this to be right, but it probably is, even though it brings me to grief.””

“One day she would be a formidable female, a creature to be reckoned with”

“pleasure wouldn’t exist without the sharp bite of pain. Even the brief flash of orgasm is too intense to be absolutely pleasurable”

“It is human, I think, when we encounter the marvelous to try and bring away some of it with us”

“I saw he was now and always would be his own man”

“Have I your word?” “yes, you have my word. But, you don’t believe me.” “no, men’s promises to women are easily made and even more easily broken.””

“some men know from birth that they are expendable… they fought to won. If you did not win, you did not run either”

“He was, she thought, as beautiful as a young god, lying on his side among the grass and flowers”

“God, to breathe. Air. You don’t know what it means until you cannot take a breath”

“There’s no sense crying over what can’t be changed” “that’s what people cry over, things they can’t change””

“I apologize.” “you aren’t sorry and don’t apologize.””

“[he] was handsome. Just the sight of him stirred strange longings in me”

“I like a man willing to pay the price of his pleasures”

“Know you, boy, women are like cats and must explore any new place until they are satisfied. If they don’t they become weak and vain, fretful and ill”

“Desire was only another weapon, like hunger, loneliness, and cold arrayed against him by his tormentors”

“for when women take revenge, it is with all their hearts and souls, not to mention considerable inventiveness and ingenuity”

“A hint of ‘I’m so pleased that you strong, handsome, stalwart men are going to stand between my flower-like beauty and danger,’ wouldn’t hurt either”

“Some of the captured women killed themselves. I didn’t. others yielded and learned to love their captors. I wouldn’t do either one. I knew I would escape. Death is forever; to learn to love the hand that crushes you is a shame not to be borne. Pain and slavery will pass. I believed this and it kept me alive”

“Everybody always knows where they stand with you, don't they?”

“Good practical intelligence. Why screech when there is no one to comfort you?”