Ed Tarkington

“But only a few have the will -- be it born of courage or recklessness, folly or sublime wisdom -- to act and, by their action, transform themselves. They will pay for their courage, of course; the world does not treat its "others" lightly. But so will the rest of us -- the ones who love them -- haunted as we are by our envy of their bright, burning beauty, which we can bear neither to look at nor to turn away from.”
― Ed Tarkington

“You once told me you wanted to forget the past," I said. "That you wanted to file it away and pretend that it never happened."
"But we don't get that, do we?" she said. "Even if we forget it, it's still there, like a snake in the grass, ready to strike you if you stumble too close to it.”
― Ed Tarkington, Only Love Can Break Your Heart