“You must not love yourself. I’ll tell you, mademoiselle … your life belongs to you. Only a matter of treating your life a little better and maybe life would treat you better in return.”

“My past still haunts me when I sleep, although I saw that – much to my surprise- his does as well.”

“But then, as I looked in the mirror, I became fixated on some hairs near my carotid artery that were still there. I pushed the blade deep against my neck to shave them off, and then blood squirted out.”

“A few minutes later, my eyes began to feel a bit droopy, but I vaguely noticed that Anissa was whispering something.”

“The lead-up to the moment was magical in every respect, but a part of me was, and still is, uneasy about the whole thing for many reasons.”

“The purpose of education should ultimately be the advancement of the species. And for this to actually happen, the world needs the kind of education by means of which character is formed, strength of the mind is increased and the human intellect is expanded beyond its own limits.”