“Next to her, in the place where we were born, I was only a decoration, that is, I bore witness to Lila’s merits. Those who had known us from birth attributed to her, to the force of her attraction, the fact that the neighborhood could have on its streets an esteemed person like me.”

“Parla abbastanza a lungo con qualcuno e tirerà fuori la storia del tempo. Ma il tempo non guarisce veramente le ferite, non allontana affatto il dolore – fa il contrario. Il tempo dà altro tempo alla ferita d’infettarsi e dà a noi il tempo di tornare sui luoghi di quel dolore.È come l’infanzia, in fondo. Si dice che si cresce, ci si lasciano alle spalle certe cose, ma non è così: l’infanzia cresce insieme a noi, ce la portiamo avanti. Viviamo e non facciamo altro che rivivere quelle paure e quei piaceri, quelle scoperte e quegli abbandoni. Specialmente quegli abbandoni. Veniamo abbandonati, delusi, traditi dalle stesse persone per anni – per sempre. Allora a che serve dire che è passato del tempo?In che modo dovrebbe aiutarci?”

“When I was young I lived a constant storm,Though now and then the brilliant suns shot through,So in my garden few red fruits were born,The rain and thunder had so much to do.- The Enemy”

“Max had once read in one of his father’s books that some childhood images become engraved in the mind like photographs, like scenes you can return to again and again and will always remember, no matter how much time goes by.”

“The tree was so old, and stood there so alone, that his childish heart had been filled with compassion; if no one else on the farm gave it a thought, he would at least do his best to, even though he suspected that his child’s words and child’s deeds didn’t make much difference. It had stood there before he was born, and would be standing there after he was dead, but perhaps, even so, it was pleased that he stroked its bark every time he passed, and sometimes, when he was sure he wasn’t observed, even pressed his cheek against it.”

“For children, childhood is timeless. It is always the present. Everything is in the present tense. Of course, they have memories. Of course, time shifts a little for them and Christmas comes round in the end. But they don’t feel it. Today is what they feel, and when they say ‘When I grow up,’ there is always an edge of disbelief—how could they ever be other than what they are?”

“I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer — and what trees and seasons smelled like — how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich.”

“But nothing warps time quite like childhood”

“I learned about religion the way most children learned about sex, [in the schoolyard]. . . . They terrified me by telling me there was a dead man in the sky watching everything I did and I retaliated by explaining where babies came from. Some of their mothers phoned mine to complain, though I think I was more upset than they were: they didn’t believe me but I believed them.”

“По очите на момчето личеше, че не ми врява, но че много би искало това да е вярно… В очите на възрастните такива работи не могат да се видят.”

“Only In SleepOnly in sleep I see their faces,Children I played with when I was a child,Louise comes back with her brown hair braided,Annie with ringlets warm and wild.Only in sleep Time is forgotten –What may have come to them, who can know?Yet we played last night as long ago,And the doll-house stood at the turn of the stair.The years had not sharpened their smooth round faces,I met their eyes and found them mild –Do they, too, dream of me, I wonder,And for them am I too a child?”

“O I never thought that joys would run away from boys,Or that boys would change their minds and forsake such summer joys;But alack I never dreamed that the world had other toys”

“Eventually, however, the denial turned into emptiness and my childhood ended.”