The Reader

by Bernhard Schlink

If looking at someone with desire was as bad as satisfying the desire, if having an active fantasy was as bad as the act you were fantasizing — then why not the satisfaction and the act itself?

If one knows what is good for another person who in turn is blind to it, then one must try to open his eyes. One has to leave him the last word, but one must talk to him — to him and not to someone else behind his back.’