Everybody grows up by leaps, and not by a steady climb like a mountaineer. - John Crowley

The angels saw him, who manage those skies he put his question to: they saw him, for this ring of earth is a place they often stop by, to gaze into it, as into a mirror, or through it, as through a keyhole. They smiled, hearing his question; and then one by one turned away, to look over their shoulders – for they were disturbed by a noise, a noise as of footfalls far away and faint, the footfalls of someone coming through behind.

Men are men, but Man is a woman. — Chesterton

So few of us, she thought, so much love and so few to spend it on, no wonder we get tangled up.