“Panic was the worst thing. When you panicked, you couldn't see possibilities. Then came despair.”

“Despair came over her, as it will when nobody around has any sexual relevance to you.”

“There’s a really interesting thing about despair, I think. It has a spark in it of deep motivation. I think despair can be described as looking at every possible scenario and seeing no hopeful one. But what that means is, if you can present someone in despair with one scenario that looks hopeful – that looks like a real possibility – then there’s this immense wealth of motivation to drive toward it, because despair is not a nice place to be.”

“Sometimes life has a cruel sense of humor, giving you the thing you always wanted at the worst time possible.”

“That is the most stupid thing yet. I tell you that I could despair of human intelligence when I see what can exist in men’s minds.”

“The thing about nightmares was that you couldn't prepare for them. They sneaked up on you when you were most vulnerable.”

“People only get married when they've no other option, out of panic or desperation or so as not to lose someone they couldn't bear to lose. It's always the most conventional things that contain the largest measure of madness.”

“When you are wronged repeatedly, the worst thing you can do is continue taking it--fight back!”

“It was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see the mistake you've made, and there's this panic because you don't know yet the scale of disaster you've left yourself open to.”

“If you panic… you die.”