writers without books, poets without verses, painters without pictures p198 - Fernando Sabino

the circle of politicians which surrounded him--flatterers, eventual profiteers, changed ideas and convictions like changing a shirt, followed the expediency of the moment. p245

I was going to tell you something very important. But it is so important I'd rather not say it. Only that which is not said is sincere... Only silence is sincere. The silence of someone who is sleeping, for example. How sincere is a sleeper! Sincere as a flower... It is in sleeping that everyone reveals themselves, because of the silence.

Gide says the hell of this life is that between a hundred paths we have to choose only one, and live with nostalgia for the other ninety nine. p51