As far as which writers embody this form of gentle power - Tobias Wolff, for sure. His persona and his writing both share an easy, capacious confidence that says he has faith in his readers.
I love you." He frowns. "Say it again." "Tobias," I say. "I love you.
I don't want to stop you. I want you to stop yourself.
I do know who you are. I just needed to be reminded.
What did you do?" I scream. "You die, I die too.
It is impossible to erase my choices.
She must love me, to worry about me. She must still be capable of love.
Some things are hard to let go of.
All I can do is stand still- I feel like if I just stand still, I can stop it from being true, I can pretend that everything is all right.
If I don't survive," I say, "tell Tobias I didn't want to leave him.
This is what I wanted most to avoid: for my rises and falls to become Tobias's rises and falls. That's why I can't let him step in to defend me now.
Stiff. That’s why you’re strong, get it? - Tobias Eaton
I feel his heartbeat against my cheek,as fast as my own. "Are you afraid of me, too, Tobias?" "Terrified," he replies with a smile.
Nothing else is alright. But we are. -Tobias
Tris," said tobias. "I love you
I understand why she did all those things, but that doesn't mean we aren't still broken.
Because even a sliver of distance between us is infuriating.
You die, I die too.” Tobias looks over his shoulder at me. “I asked you not to do this. You made your decision. These are the repercussions.
So how can I hold Tobias’s desperation against him, like I’m better than him, like I’ve never let my own brokenness blind me?
I only came for Cake" -Tobias Eaton, Divergent
I confessed to Tobias, soon after that, that I had lost my entire family. And he assured me that he was my family now. -Tris Prior
People are supossed to aspire to become their fathers, not shudder at the thought.
She believes that Tobias belongs to her now. She doesn't know the truth, that he belongs to himself.
The person you became with her is worth being.
Got that gun?” Peter says to Tobias. “No,” says Tobias, “I figured I would shoot the bullets out of my nostrils, so I left it upstairs.
I feel like myself, strong and weak at once - allowed, at least for a little while, to be both.
I keep finding myself stifled by the company of others and then crippled by loneliness when I leave them. I am terrified and I don't even know of what, because I have lost everything already.
Change, like healing, takes time.