"There was the green linoleum, and a tap dripping. There was an emptiness about the heart of life. The sheets were clean, tight stretched in a broad white band from side to side. Narrower and narrower would her bed be."

I never had a new year wish or resolution. Should I be more patient?
More careful? More caring? ... Should I work harder?
I can't answer these questions. Do you imagine how ghastly it must be to want to change yourself? But when others do it... that's different.

"To look life in the face, always, to look life in the face and to know it for what it is. At last to know it, to love it for what it is, and then, to put it away. Always the years between us, always the years. Always the love. Always the hours."

Heartache to heartache, we stand together.

Misery is contrast. It makes people value life more. But people fool themselves.