A. A. Paton

“Sorrow is better than fear. Fear is a journey,a terrible journey, but sorrow is at least an arrival. When the storm threatens, a man is afraid for his house. But when the house is destroyed, there is something to do. About a storm he can do nothing, but he can rebuild a house.””

“[A]fter all, the position of a reader in a book is very like that occupied by angels in the world, when angels still had any credibility. Yours is, like theirs, a hovering, gravely attentive presence, observing everything, from whom nothing is concealed, for angels are very bright mirrors. Hearts and minds are as open as the landscape to their view, as to yours; like them you are in the fabled world invisible.””

“I have no idea who he is but I want him to be mine. He stares at me intensely and I resent how he makes me feel. I’m a successful businesswoman, an icon in my industry. I command enormously generous payments for the work I do. I don’t sit in cafes wondering if I might be drooling over a stranger.””