Rohm

“I think: In the end, he remained hidden all his life. In spite of the great departure, the ambitious effort to forge a new existence, he fell back into all the same traps: shame, the impossibility of sharing a love that endures.

I think of all the men I met in bookstores, men who confided in me about having lied for years and years, before finally resolving to leave everything to start all over again (they will recognize themselves if they read these lines). Thomas never found their courage.

I say “courage,” but it may be something else. Those who have not taken this step, who have not come to terms with themselves, are not necessarily frightened, they are perhaps helpless, disoriented, lost as one is in the middle of a forest that’s too dark or dense or vast.”
― Philippe Besson, Lie With Me

“I also know how much of yourself you have to leave behind in order to look like everyone else.”
― Philippe Besson, Lie With Me

“Always we desire too much or not enough and we compensate accordingly.”
― Philippe Besson, Lie With Me

“I had the time to think all the way home about how affairs of the body are so much more preferable to affairs of the heart, but that sometimes you don't have the choice.”
― Philippe Besson, Lie With Me