Tamara

“The dark swallowed him, but his dragging footsteps could be heard a long time after he had gone, footsteps along the road; and a car came by on the highway, and its lights showed the ragged man shuffling along the road, his head hanging down and his hands in the black coat pockets.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

“Everyone wanted to call her sweetheart. But she only danced for me. That’s how it was. She told me that every other step was just for me.” “But that’s only half of the dance,” I said. “Yeah,” my father said. “She was keeping the rest for herself. Nobody can give everything away. It ain’t healthy.”
― Sherman Alexie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

“And I'm not going to get any thinner or any younger, my ass is going to hit the ground, if it hasn't already--and I want to be with somebody who can still see me in here. I'm still in here. And I don't want to be resented or despised for changing...I'd rather be alone.”
― zadie Smith

“You can forgive a fool because he only runs in one direction and doesn’t deceive anybody. It’s the deceivers who make you feel bad.”
― Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye