He was still too young to know that the heart's memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good, and that thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burden of the past.

But that afternoon he asked himself, with his infinite capacity for illusion, if such pitiless indifference might not be a subterfuge for hiding the torments of love.

Take advantage of it now, while you are young, and suffer all you can, because these things don't last your whole life.

and the two of them loved each other for a long time in silence without making love again.

Be calm. God awaits you at the door.

he dared to explore her withered neck w/his fingertips…her hips w/their decaying bones, her thighs with their aging veins.

wisdom comes to us when it can no longer do any good.

In her final years she would still recall the trip that, with the perverse lucidity of nostalgia, became more and more recent in her memory.

One could be happy not only without love, but despite it.

One had to live a long time to know a man's true nature.

Dr Urbino did not agree: in his opinion a Liberal president was exactly the same as a Conservative president, but not as well dressed.

Often, it takes more guts than skill to open doors. Once the doors get opened, then it's up to you.

Pride is the great stumbling block of Zion. I repeat: Pride is the great stumbling block of Zion.

[C]ontemporary liberalism stands on a foundation of assumptions and ideas integral to the larger fascist movement.

A tremendous strike which hit the defender full on the arm - and it nearly came off.

Sovereign. Deadly. Perfect.

Who is against democracy? Is it the one who calls for peaceful resistance, or the one who bombs people, sheds their blood and leads them away from the leaders under feeble and dirty pretexts?

When I was 12, I used to dress as a woman in the house. At the time, cross-dressing was a big taboo in Italy. It was better to have a son who was a drug addict than a cross-dresser.

The bridge fell away into the chasm, and the Cyclops howled ... with delight, because he was standing right next to us.

I just have a sense that Obama's not going to ultimately succeed in totally transforming America into something other than how it was founded.

To be a classic, a novel should be original.