The Door

by Magda Szabó

I was thinking that I had never believed those

There was no such thing as a sane man.

great events of her life when she asked for, and

Who isn’t lonely, I’d like to know? And that includes people who do have someone but just haven’t noticed.

how irrational, how unpredictable is the attraction between people, how fatal its current. And yet I was well versed in Greek literature, which portrayed nothing but the passions: death and love and friendship, their hands joined together round a glittering axe.

Petőfi. She made no reply, nor did she mention the trip again. Right up to the last possible

not to love anyone to death because you’ll suffer for it, if not sooner then later. It is better not to love anyone, because then no-one you care about will get butchered, and you won’t end up jumping out of wagons.

Only people truly close to me can cause me real pain.

If there’s no-one to show pleasure when you come home, then it’s better not to live.

I don’t want anyone unless they are completely mine.

My husband was unable to comfort me, though his eyes held nothing but compassion.

And you haven’t been able to find anyone you can bear to have near you, because you aren’t looking for just anyone, you’re looking for the one person who will never be with you again. But Emerence has gone. Understand that, once and for all. You