Excerpt:

Actually, I don’t believe in paradise. We deserve what we get. Throw out the poetry from your daily life. It’s a comfort, but it’ll never make you happy. You can read Goethe everyday and never realize that the man was a scientist. Werther is an excellent example of the Romantic character but… we’re not characters in novels, Ethan. We’re humans. Imperfect, tainted, sinners. You could fuck me on my knees – despite the pleasure, there would still be the initial pain. That pain is the pain of living, Ethan, and everyday – we have to face it or succumb to death. Which is easier?We’ll never have the awareness to know; we can only play our side of the pond.