“They say in moments of great fear or desperation, a man will always make a choice—either to flee or face his enemy, but choice requires thought, and in the moment when you know for certain that death is stalking you with strides you cannot outrun, there is no time for thought. You do not choose. Like Betto, or Malchus, or Valens, you act, doing either one thing or the other.”

“There is no such thing as unrequited love; the phrase ought to be stricken from the lexicon. Love is a thing shared, an intertwining of essential separateness into something not quite alone. There is nothing like it under the heavens. Like bread, it will not be made with flour or water alone; the recipe requires both. Guarding each other’s vulnerability provides the yeast that makes it rise, and salt from the tears that caring brings lends the finishing touch.”

“It is we who move through time, not the reverse. When we walk beyond any one of life’s instants, it becomes nothing more than a receding milestone. We can look back, but we cannot retrace our steps. The past remains stationary, while we are doomed to move ever onwards. To do otherwise is against nature.”

“It is laughable how often good manners interfere with my survival.”

“I don’t care how smart you are. You’ll never understand how little you really know until you’ve had a woman.”

“The past is set down in a thousand thousand indelible scrolls. But the future is a blank parchment forever in wait of a present.”

“Oh, the unintended consequences of perfidy!”

“I advise, however, moderation in this task of setting goals, or else risk becoming tangled up in a Gordian knot of life’s many disappointments.”

“Some men simply refuse to appear insulted. But then, having felt the sting from the slap on their cheek, know just where to slip the knife, their smile never fading.”

“Yes, I have a romantic nature; it is a character flaw which should be viewed with pity, not derision.”

“Pride costs nothing, yet it is especially precious when it can be “purchased” at someone else’s expense.”