That mysterious play which extends from love of a body to a love of an entire person has seemed to me noble enough to consecrate to it one part of my… - Marguerite Yourcenar

I will not fall. I have reached the center. I listen to the striking of who knows what divine clock through the thin carnal wall of a life full of blood, of shudderings, and of breathings. I am near the mysterious kernel of things as one is sometimes near a heart at night.

On peut dire que tout est prédestiné, que tout est un arrangement extrêmement savant dont nous ne voyons qu'une toute petite partie. On peut dire aussi que tout est chaos, et je me heurterai à ce dilemme jusqu'au bout. (p. 166)

(l'amour)... un envahissement de la chair par l'esprit