I wanted her to love me more than ever, not just for me but so she could feel normal. I really never said much about love, thought. (…) I let it be tacit. One thing we agreed on was that love was something there was no point in asking for. It was either simple or impossible. If you had to ask for it, it just meant it was impossible.
—Larry McMurtry, All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers, Liveright, 2018 (1972)