Leaving was what weak people did
Though women were sometimes a kind of problem. He enjoyed their company, enjoyed hearing their voices, knowing about their semi-intimate lives and daily dramas. But his attempts at knowing them often created a peculiar feeling, as if on the one hand he’d come into the possession of secrets he didn’t want to keep, while on the other, some other vital portion of life –his life with Barbara, for instance– was left not fully appreciated, gone somewhat to waste.
[ The Womanizer. WOMEN WITH MEN, Richard Ford]
