Quote by Paolo Giordano (b. 1982)

• All opening moves were the same, like in chess. You don't have to come up with anything new, there's no point, because you're both after the same thing anyway. The game soon finds its own way and it's only at that point that you need a strategy.

• Feeling special is the worst kind of cage a person can build for himself.

• The love of those we don't love in return settles on the surface and from there quickly evaporates.

• Choices are made in brief seconds and paid for in the time that remains.

• He felt a furious sense of powerlessness, because he played no part in Alice's life, but by god she did in his, like a daughter whose name he hadn't been able to choose.

• She hadn't chosen him over all the others. The truth was that she hadn't even thought about anyone else.