We the Living

“I’m studying philosophy,” said Leo, “because it’s a science that the proletariat of the R.S.F.S.R. does not need at all.”

She was homely and used her homeliness with such skillful, audacious emphasis that the most beautiful girls feared her competition.

And if you want something toward which you can’t move?”
“I never did.”
“And if—on your way—you find a barrier that you don’t want to break?”
“I never have.”

Well, I always know what I want. And when you know what you want—you go toward it.

Let’s drink a toast to something I could never offer but in a place like this: to my life.”
“Your new life?”
“My only one.”