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21 " That’s the thing about living vicariously; it’s so much faster than actual living. In a few minutes we’ll be worrying about names for the children. "
― Audrey Niffenegger , Her Fearful Symmetry
22 " The kissed surprised him because it had been so long since he'd kissed anyone but Elspeth. It surprised Valentina because she had hardly ever kissed anyone that way - to her, kissing had always been more theoretical than physical. Afterwards she stood with her eyes closed, lips parted, face tilted. Robert thought, She's going to break my heart and I'm going to let her. "
23 " I guess no matter what your family is like, you're not surprised. "
24 " I don't want to boss anyone and I don't want to be bossed. "
25 " In the dim light of the computer screen he seemed otherworldly; Julia thought him beautiful, though she knew it was the beauty of damage. "
26 " There was only the cemetery itself, spread out in the moonlight like a soft grey hallucination, a stony wilderness of Victorian melancholy. "
27 " We're squirrels in human form, she whispered. And so are you. "
28 " Being in love is…anxious,” he said. “Wanting to please, worrying that she will see me as I really am. But wanting to be known. That is…you’re naked, moaning in the dark, no dignity at all…I wanted her to see me and to love me even though she knew everything I am, and I knew her. "
29 " Sometimes a thing is---too much---and it has to be isolated put away. "
30 " Not because they’re dead. Though unattainability is always attractive. "
31 " Each of them warmed to the sound of the other's voice. They lay in the dark together, in distant cities, each of them thinking, We were lucky this time. And they pressed their phones closer to their ears, and both of them wondered how much longer this separation could go on. "
32 " Everything is still out there: the rooftops and chimneys, the graffiti, the office towers and the cyclists; soon there will be sheep and that immense sky the keep out in the countryside... Once I thought there were two realities, inner and outer, but perhaps that's a bit meagre; I'm not quite the same person I was last night... "
33 " Jessica put out her hand and braced herself against the door jamb. She experienced one of those rare moments when understanding of the world alters and a previously impossible thing is admitted, if not understood. "
34 " And so the twins had remained virgins. Julia and Valentina watched all of their high school and college friends disappear one by one into the adult world of sex, until they were the only people they knew who lingered in the world of the uninitiated. "What was it like?" they asked each friend. The answers were vague. Sex was a private joke: you had to be there. "
35 " He didn't take care of you; you had to take care of yourself. "
36 " It wasn't quite raining, but it wasn't exactly not raining either. She heard the driver squelching along the path behind her. "
37 " Elspeth stood in the sun, letting it pour through her, watching the Kitten sleep. I want you. Elspeth felt depressed. She had never thought of herself as someone who would kill a beautiful white kitten while it napped. But apparently she was that sort of person. Don't you worry, Kitten. I'll put you right back. "
38 " She's going to break my heart and I'm going to let her. "
39 " A bad thing about dying is that I've started to feel as though I'm being erased. Another bad thing is that I won't get to find out what happens next. "
40 " He had never realised, while Elspeth was alive, the extent to which a thing had not completely happened until he told her about it. "