And you wanted no part of me when I had so much to give.

I just wanted to hear you say so ''.

The way his red rubber lips were stretched across his pearly little teeth I thought he was only having a little joke, but, no, he wanted me to bend down from the roar of wind so he could roar something into my ear.

And so I would only touch upon it now ( much as I have long wanted to write a book about it ).

Cloud made an interesting statement in parting from his client: `` I wanted to be a lawyer, and Mrs. Wright wanted me to be an avenging angel.

), I have never wanted to know what you knew of passion.

as I understand it, Mr. Hammarskjold wanted outside advice.

I wanted to help so that we could find time to play.

My `` touchstones, had, been strictly '' literature and, humanly enough, American literature ( because that was what I wanted to write ).

I wanted to grab her by the arm and beg her to wait, to consider, to know for certain because life is so long and marriage is so important.

The funeral for my husband was just what I wanted and I paid a fair price, far less than I had expected to pay.

I wanted to wipe my flint, but I didn't dare to, the state my hands were in, just as I didn't dare to do anything about the priming.

All I ever wanted was to be a free man in my own country.

It was just me and Eileen getting drunk together like we used to in the old days, and me staring at her across the table crazy to get my hands on her partly because I wanted to wring her neck because she was so ornery but mostly because she was so wonderful to touch.

I said sure that was what I wanted her to do but she paid no attention.

Under the circumstances, I had difficulty keeping up with the conversation on the phone, but when I hung up I was reasonably certain that Francesca had wanted to remind me of our town meeting the next evening, and how important it was that Hank and I be there.

Often, I heard my uncles and cousins speak of it when I was a small boy growing up in Rabaul.

I expected Brassnose -- as a man with a strain of Melanesian in his blood -- to speak to them.

When Heidegger and Sartre speak of a contrast between being and existence, they may be right, I don't know, but their language is too philosophical for me.

If I am to speak the whole truth about my knowledge of love, I will have to stop trying to emulate the transcendant nightingale.

Whether you experienced the passion of desire I have, of course, no way of knowing, nor indeed have I wished with even the most fleeting fragment of a wish to know, for the fact that one constitutes by one's mere existence so to speak the proof of some sort of passion makes any speculation upon this part of one's parents' experience more immodest, more scandalizing, more deeply unwelcome than an obscenity from a stranger.

The innocence of which I speak is, I know, not incorruptible.

When I speak of how Shann felt, I know well.

The monk who opened the door immediately calmed his worries about his reception: `` I speak English '', the old man said, `` but I do not hear it very well ''.

At that time, he afforded me the courtesy of his busy workday for such length as I may need, to speak about my background, my hopes, my views on various national and local topics, and any problems that I may have been vexed with at the time.

I prefer to speak, however, of Sam Rayburn, the person, rather than Sam Rayburn, the American institution.

Again, I at first misconstrued this disconcertingly intense communication, and I quickly cast through my mind to account for her being able to speak, with such utter conviction, of an opinion held by my father, now several years deceased.

Other synonyms could of course serve the same function, and for the sake of ease I shall speak of kennings and epithets in the widest and loosest possible sense, and name, for example, Gar-Dene a kenning for the Danes.

I speak of `` the largest possible measure '' because any person who supposes that these conditions can be universally and perfectly achieved -- ever -- reckons without the inherent imperfectability of himself and his fellow human beings, and is therefore a dangerous man to have around.

Here I do not speak of military power where our advantage is obvious and overwhelming but of political power -- of influence, if you will -- about which the relevant questions are: Is Soviet influence throughout the world greater or less than it was ten years ago??

We have to tell ourselves that when Parker spoke in this vein, he believed what he said, because he could continue, `` But the truth, which cost me bitter tears to say, I must speak, though it cost other tears hotter than fire ''.

The next traditional step then was to accept it as the authoritative textbook of the Christian faith just as one would accept a treatise on any earthly `` science '', and I submitted to its conditions according to Christ's invitation and promise that, `` If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself '' ( John 7: 17 ).

`` I don't have many strays coming to my front door '', he said.

`` All my life '', he said, `` I tried.

`` I hate to leave my garden '', Gavin said.

I loved my garden ''.

`` I never felt better in my life '', Fiske blustered.

In the brief moment I had to talk to them before I took my post on the ring of defenses, I indicated I was sickened by the methods men employed to live and trade on the river.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Gray Eyes rushing at me with a knife.

I could see them in my sights.

I found his chest in my sights.

At the last second I dropped my sights from the bare chest and bright red circle to the chest of his pony.

In my sights I watched him looming bigger and bigger.

Such was my state of mind that I did not question the possibility of this ; ;

I would turn away from my writing in the hope of getting a good look at them but I never quite succeeded.

Now, here was something of obvious importance to me, yet when I reached for the tickets he snatched them away from my hand.

I withdrew my hand.

Having nothing else to do except wait for my forms to be processed, I gave myself over to speculations concerning the hall itself.

For although I had crossed a corner of the hall on my way to the toilet I still could not tell for sure how far to the rear the darkness extended.

This light did not penetrate very far back into the hall, and my eyes were hindered rather than aided by the dim daylight entering through the fan vents when I tried to pick out whatever might be lying, or squatting, on the floor below.

No sooner would I turn my head away from the counter before he would address me, at times quite sharply, in order to bring back my attention.