28
" I love you.’ For a start, we’d better put these words on a high shelf; in a square box behind glass which we have to break with our elbow; in the bank. We shouldn’t leave them lying around the house like a tube of vitamin C. If the words come too easily to hand, we’ll use them without thought; we won’t be able to resist. Oh, we say we won’t, but we will. We’ll get drunk, or lonely, or – likeliest of all – plain damn hopeful, and there are the words gone, used up, grubbied "
― Julian Barnes , A History of the World in 10½ Chapters
31
" You are in love, at a point where pride and apprehension scuffle within you. Part of you wants time to slow down: for this, you say to yourself, is the best period of your whole life. I am in love, I want to savour it, study it, lie around in languor with it; may today last forever. This is your poetical side. However, there is also your prose side, which urges time not to slow down but hurry up. How do you know this is love, your prose side whispers like a sceptical lawyer, it’s only been around for a few weeks, a few months. You won’t know it’s the real thing unless you (and she) still feel the same in, oh, a year or so at least; that’s the only way to prove you aren’t living a dragonfly mistake. Get through this bit, however much you enjoy it, as fast as possible; then you’ll be able to find out whether or not you’re really in love. "
― Julian Barnes , A History of the World in 10½ Chapters
36
" Σ'αγαπώ. Πρώτα πρώτα, καλά θα κάναμε να φυλάξουμε αυτή τη φράση σ'ένα ψηλό ράφι, σ'ένα τετράγωνο κουτί, πίσω από ένα τζάμι που πρέπει να σπάσουμε με τον αγκώνα μας, στην τράπεζα. Δεν πρέπει να την αφήνουμε όπου να'ναι στο σπίτι, σαν ένα σωληνάριο βιταμίνη C. Αν την έχουμε πρόχειρη, θα τη χρησιμοποιήσουμε χωρίς δεύτερη σκέψη, δεν θ'αντέξουμε στον πειρασμό. Λέμε βέβαια πως δεν θα το κάνουμε, αλλά θα το κάνουμε. Θα είμαστε μεθυσμένοι ή θα νιώθουμε μοναξιά ή -το πιθανότερο απ'όλα- θα θέλουμε να τρέφουμε ελπίδες, που να πάρει, και τότε η φράση θα χαθεί, θα καταναλωθεί, θα μαγαριστεί. "
― Julian Barnes , A History of the World in 10½ Chapters