How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Now grass and trees, the travelling air blowing empty spaces in the blue which they then recover, shaking the leaves which then replace themselves, and our ring here, sitting, with our arms binding our knees, hint at some other order, and better, which makes a reason everlastingly. This I see for a second, and shall try tonight to fix in words, to forge in a ring of steel, though Percival destroys it, as he blunders off, crushing the grasses, with the small fry trotting subservient after him. Yet it is Percival I need; for it is Percival who inspires poetry." (2b.18)
In this moment, Louis explicitly links the desire for expression (i.e., by fixing something in words) with forging and maintaining connections between the friends. In this case, it appears that the friendships here (and particularly Percival's) are the basis of literary creation, but elsewhere it is implied that the relationship between language and friendship goes both ways, with language and art facilitating interpersonal connection.
Quote #2
"Now let us follow him as he heaves through the swing-door to his own apartments. Let us imagine him in his private room over the stables undressing. He unfastens his sock suspenders (let us be trivial, let us be intimate). Then with a characteristic gesture (it is difficult to avoid these ready-made phrases, and they are, in his case, somehow appropriate) he takes the silver, he takes the coppers from his trouser pockets and places them there, and there, on his dressing-table. With both arms stretched on the arms of his chair he reflects (this is his private moment; it is here we must try to catch him): shall he cross the pink bridge into his bedroom or shall he not cross it?… But stories that follow people into their private rooms are difficult. I cannot go on with this story. I twiddle a piece of string; I turn over four or five coins in my trouser pocket." (2b.33)
Bernard is trying to amuse Neville by imagining the private life of their school don, Dr. Crane. He manages to spin a pretty elaborate tale but ultimately finds it's too difficult to imagine and convey all the details of someone's private life. This moment serves as a good example of Bernard's frustration with the inexactness of language in capturing a full reality.
Quote #3
"Bernard's stories amuse me," said Neville, "at the start. But when they tail off absurdly and he gapes, twiddling a bit of string, I feel my own solitude. He sees everyone with blurred edges. Hence I cannot talk to him of Percival. I cannot expose my absurd and violent passion to his sympathetic understanding. It too would make a "story."" (2b.34)
Neville, too, complains about the inexactness of Bernard's storytelling. He also seems to imply that there is something about Bernard's stories that can be damaging or hurtful, and so he's unwilling to expose his own "violent passion" to his friend, because he's afraid that it will get distilled into a story.