Mattia's voice no longer stirred anything in his stomach, but he was aware of the idea of him and always would be, as the only true benchmark for everything that had come afterward.

People took what they wanted, they clutched at coincidences, the few there were, and made a life from them. . . . Choices are made in brief seconds and paid for in the time that remains.

...finally her hands, so light, holding his head still and catching all his thoughts and imprisoning them there, in the space that no longer existed between them.

Mattia thought that he and Alice were like that, twin primes, alone and lost, close but not close enough to really touch each other.

By now he had learned. Choices are made in brief seconds and paid for in the time that remains.

Denis's love for Mattia had burned itself out, like a forgotten candle in an empty room, leaving behind a ravenous discontent.

If one billion of you watch and do not intercede as one million of you assent to the one thousand who participate in the murder of a child, then one billion of you are a billion times guilty.

Have you ever gotten to a point where you looked at your own life, thought "Fu** this, " and reached for the economy-sized Valium? Ah, suicide. So dark and seductive.

In the heir's world, where everything was available, the unattainable had a wild allure.

Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn't worth ruling.

I vividly remember being 14. That was the age when I started to get happy: I started being a writer and stopped being a loser.

All instruments sound fantastic in a church.

If doing what ought to be done be made the first business and success a secondary consideration--is not this the way to exalt virtue?

Far from having taken any positive step, I have not yet even fommed any resolution.

God's presence is not just Light, and Life, but Love. And Love invites, but does not compel.

Looking at the earth from afar you realize it is too small for conflict and just big enough for co-operation.