Something to Answer For

I reckon I can forgive even you. Forgive you for what? Well, you exist, don't you?

The moment he saw the world through any woman's eyes he knew he was falling in love with her and there would be no limit to the crazy, contemptible notions he'd have to take over.

He liked forgetting. You had to forget all manner of things just to survive.

Townrow wasn't content with loving people. He wanted to be them. It was why he always ended up trying to marry the women he fell in love with, instead of just having a good time.

This, when he came to think of it, was one way of reading his relations with women. They were the great shutters-out. They shut him out from themselves, they shut him out from some state. He could not have put it any clearer. The word was "state", in all its meanings; situation, condition, country, kingdom, empire, splendour, glory and transfiguration.

He liked to explain he had a misfortune in his life. A little, viral spring was broken. He was a malfunctioning machine and he liked kicking himself to see whether that made him go any better.