Jess

“I must part with you for my whole life," she read, with horror. "I must begin a new existence amongst strange faces and strange scenes." The truth of that closed the book for her, forever.”
― John Irving, The Cider House Rules

“Remember," Duncan asked on the plane, "how Walt asked if it was green or brown?"

Both Garp and Duncan laughed. But it was neither green nor brown, Garp thought. It was me. It was Helen. It was the color of bad weather. It was the size of an automobile.”
― John Irving, The World According to Garp

“I felt as if I could walk into the house and lay on the bed, and everything would be as before. And Froggy would be happy and I would be happy too. But there are forces that don't let you turn back and undo things, because to do so would be to deny what is already in motion, to I wrote and erase passages, to shorten the arc of a story you don't own.
"If I could walk into the house and say, 'Froggy, I'm sorry I left.' If I could hug him and unbutton his shirt and pick the petals from his hair. If I could do that, there would be no reason for me to fight this war.”
― Salvador Plascencia

“a face which would have been a very fine one but for its haggardness. Whether this haggardness had aught to do with criminality, could not be determined; since, as intense heat and cold, though unlike, produce like sensations, so innocence and guilt, when, through casual association with mental pain, stamping any visible impress, use one seal--a hacked one.”
― Herman Melville