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Everyone has demons. The question is simply to know up to what point those demons can be tolerated.
From this I came to understand that in order to be magnificent, all that was needed was to distort the way others perceived me; in the end, everything was a question of appearances.
Life is a long drop down, Marcus. The most important thing is knowing how to fall.”
In case you haven’t noticed, life generally doesn’t have any meaning—unless you strive, every God-given day, to provide it with some.
“Marcus, do you know what is the only way to know how much you love someone?” “No.” “By losing them.”
“In our society, Marcus, the most admired men are those who build bridges, skyscrapers, and empires. But in reality, the proudest and most admirable are those who manage to build love. Because there is no greater or more difficult undertaking.”
All I know is that life is a series of choices, and that you have to keep making them.”
If people were free, they would be happy. How many genuinely happy people do you know?”
It doesn’t matter if you win or lose. What matters is how you fight between the first bell and the last one. The result of the match is just a piece of news for the public. Who can say you lost if you feel like you’ve won?
And it was at that moment that I realized, thanks to a fifteen-year-old girl, that I had probably never been in love. That lots of people have never been in love. That they make do with good intentions; that they hide away in the comfort of a crummy existence and shy away from that amazing feeling that is probably the only thing that justifies being alive.
“Cherish love, Marcus. Make it your greatest conquest, your sole ambition. After men, there will be other men. After books, there will be other books. After glory, there will be other glories. After money, there will be yet more money. But after love, Marcus, after love, there is nothing but the salt from tears.”
You’re a poet: You think the passing of time has meaning. But the passing of time is either money earned or money lost. And I’m a big supporter of the former.
“The truth does not change how you feel about someone. That’s the great tragedy of love.”
