We've known for a long time that it was no longer possible to overturn this world, nor reshape it, nor head off its dangerous headlong rush. There's been only one possible resistance: to not take it seriously.
We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come.
In my unbeliever's dictionary, only one word is sacred: 'friendship.'
To love someone out of compassion means not really to love.