How we cite our quotes: (Letter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I want your dear perishable self to live long and to love this poor perishable world, which I somehow cannot imagine not missing bitterly, even while I do long to see what it will mean to have wife and child restored to me, I mean Louisa and Rebecca. (1.4.7)
Ames believes in eternal life. He also believes that love is eternal. Nevertheless, he has neither his head nor his heart stuck in the clouds of eternity. He's very much in the moment—in love with the passing and the transitory. With all his heart, he loves what won't last forever.
Quote #2
That was the first time in my life I ever knew what it was to love another human being. Not that I hadn't loved people before. But I hadn't realized what it meant to love them before. (1.4.12)
Why is it that Ames doesn't discover the meaning of love until late in his life, when he falls in love with Lila? What kept him back before that?