I started explaining to her that nothing is vulgar in itself but that talking and thinking make it so. - Cesare Pavese

We care so little of other people than even Christianity urges us to do good for the love of God.

Why does a man who is truly in love insist that this relationship must continue and be "lifelong"? Because life is pain and the enjoyment of love is an anesthetic. Who would want to wake up halfway through an operation?

That war in which I had been sheltering, convinced of having accepted it, of having made my own uncomfortable peace, grew more ferocious, bit deeper, reached into one's nerves and brain.