It is with the soul that we grasp the essence of another human being, not with the mind, nor even with the heart. - Henry Miller

I have been a little embarrassed always. But less so the last time. It will all disappear. You have such a delicious sense of humor — I adore that in you. I want always to see you laughing. It belongs to you. I have been thinking of places we ought to go together — little obscure places, here and there, in Paris. Just to say — here I went with Anais — here we ate or danced or got drunk together. Ah, to see you really drunk sometime, that would be a treat! I am almost afraid to suggest it — but Anais, when I think of how you press against me, how eagerly you open your legs and how wet you are, God, it drives me mad to think what you would be like when everything falls away.

You can forgive a young cunt anything. A young cunt doesn't have to have brains. They're better without brains. But an old cunt, even if she's brilliant, even if she's the most charming woman in the world, nothing makes any difference. A young cunt is an investment; an old cunt is a dead loss. All they can do for you is buy you things. But that doesn't put meat on their arms or juice between their legs.

Life, as it is called, is for most of us one long postponement.