"Love is one kind of abstraction."
"People often say that when couples are married for a long time, they start to look alike. I don't believe that. But I do believe their sentences start to look alike."
"Sometimes desire is air; sometimes desire is liquid. And every now and then, when everything else is air and liquid, desire solidifies, and the body is the magnet that draws its weight. "
"There has to be a moment at the beginning when you wonder whether you’re in love with the person or in love with the feeling of love itself. If the moment doesn’t pass, that’s it—you’re done. And if the moment does pass, it never goes that far. It stands in the distance, ready for whenever you want it back. Sometimes it’s even there when you thought you were searching for something else, like an escape route, or your lover’s face. "
"I spent all this time building a relationship. Then one night, I left the window open, and it started to rust."
"Even when I detach, I care. You can be separated from a thing and still care about it. If I wanted to detach completely, I would move my body away. I would stop the conversation midsentence. I would leave the bed. Instead, I hover over it for a second. I glance off in another direction. But I always glance back at you."
"I love the idea that an abuse can be negated. And that the things most often disabused are notions."
"Does every "I love you deserve" an "I love you too"? Does every kiss deserve a kiss back? Does every night deserve to be spent on a lover? If the answer to any of these is "NO," what do we do?"
"Trying to write about love is ultimately like trying to have a dictionary represent life. No matter how many words there are, there will never be enough."
"Infidel, n. We think of them as hiding in the hills - rebels, ransackers, rogue revolutionaries. But really, aren't they just guilty of infidelity?"
"When I say, "Be my lover", I don't mean, "Let's have an affair." I don't mean "Sleep with me." I don't mean, "Be my secret." I want us to go back down to that root. I want you to be the one who loves me. I want to be the one who loves you. "
"The key to a successful relationship isn't just in the words, it's in the choice of punctuation. When you're in love with someone, a well-placed question mark can be the difference between bliss and disaster, and a deeply respected period or a cleverly inverted ellipsis can prevent all kinds of exclamations."
Labels: Book Review, David Levithan