“She was forced to consider the startling fact that the love of her life might not actually be someone with whom she could spend a lifetime.”

“She was so quiet. So reflective. And she could erase herself, her spirit, with a swiftness that truly startled, when she knew the people around her could not respect it.”

“Her one serious failing was that she could not write above love. She could not write a story with more than one important character in it, whom she thought of for the moment as herself; with love there had to be at least two important characters.”

“She might be a great person, but life's so much bigger than just loving someone.”

“She wanted letters. Real letters written in his handwriting on actual paper that she could hold and keep and read whenever the mood struck her. They were proof, solid and tangible, that someone was thinking about her.”

“Protima Gauri (as she renamed herself) had zest for living. She loved her men, her liquor and drugs. She had a large range of her lovers, most of whom she names.”

“A manly form at her side she saw,
And joy was duty and love was law.
Then she took up her burden of life again,
Saying only, "It might have been."”

“Because being comfortable meant she might lower her guard, and she could not let that happen.”

“She's gonna listen to her heart.
It's gonna tell her what to do.
She might need a lot of loving,
But she don't need you.”

“The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she is pretty and to someone else if she is plain.”