André Igarashi

“Ainda assim, minha vida começou ali e parou ali em um verão distante, naquela casa, que não existe mais, naquela década, que passou tão rápido, com esse nunca-amor que alterou tudo, mas não deu em nada. Você fez de mim o que sou hoje. Aonde quer que eu vá, todas as pessoas que vejo e desejo acabam sendo mensuradas pelo brilho da sua luz. Se minha vida fosse um barco, você seria aquele que subiu a bordo, ligou as luzes de navegação e nunca mais voltou. Tudo isso pode ser coisa da minha cabeça, e na minha cabeça ficará. Mas eu vivi e amei pela sua luz e mais nada. Em um ônibus, em uma rua movimentada, na sala de aula, em uma casa de shows lotada, uma ou duas vezes por ano, seja homem ou mulher, meu coração ainda acelera quando avisto alguém que parece você. Amamos apenas uma vez na vida, disse meu pai, às vezes cedo demais, às vezes tarde demais; as outras vezes são sempre um pouco ponderadas.”
― André Aciman, Enigma Variations

“Who am I? Who am I?”
“You’re Jude St. Francis. You are my oldest, dearest friend. You’re the son of Harold Stein and Julia Altman. You’re the friend of Malcolm Irvine, of Jean-Baptiste Marion, of Richard Goldfarb, of Andy Contractor, of Lucien Voigt, of Citizen van Straaten, of Rhodes Arrowsmith, of Elijah Kozma, of Phaedra de los Santos, of the Henry Youngs. You’re a New Yorker. You live in SoHo. You volunteer for an arts organization; you volunteer for a food kitchen. You’re a swimmer. You’re a baker. You’re a cook. You’re a reader. You have a beautiful voice, though you never sing anymore. You’re an excellent pianist. You’re an art collector. You write me lovely messages when I’m away. You’re patient. You’re generous. You’re the best listener I know. You’re the smartest person I know, in every way. You’re the bravest person I know, in every way. You’re a lawyer. You’re the chair of the litigation department at Rosen Pritchard and Klein. You love your job; you work hard at it. You’re a mathematician. You’re a logician. You’ve tried to teach me, again and again. You were treated horribly. You came out on the other end. You were always you.”

"And who are you?"
"I'm Willem Ragnarsson. And I will never let you go.”
― Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

“You made me who I am today, Nanni. Wherever I go, everyone I see and crave is ultimately measured by the glow of your light. If my life were a boat, you were the one who stepped on board, turned on its running lights, and was never heard from again. All this might as well be in my head, and in my head it stays. But I've lived and loved by your light alone.”
― André Aciman, Enigma Variations