- Fredrik: Father, I'm scared. When I was hugging Karin in the boat, reality was revealed. Do you know what I mean?
- David: I do.
- Fredrik: Reality was revealed, and I collapsed. It's like a dream. Anything can happen. Anything.
- David: I know.
- Fredrik: I can't live in this new world.
- David: Yes, you can. But you must have a support.
- Fredrik: What kind of support? You mean a God? Give me a proof of his existance. You can't.
- David: I can. But you gotta pay attention to what I say.
- Fredrik: Yes. I need to listen.
- David: I can only tell you a thought of my own hopes. It is to know that love exists for real in the human world.
- Fredrik: A sort of special love, I suppose?
- David: All kinds of it. The bigger and the smaller, the most absurd one and the most sublime one. All kinds of love.
- Fredrik: What about the desire for love?
- David: Desire and denying. Trust and distrust.
- Fredrik: Then love is the proof?
- David: I don't know if love is the proof of God's existance or if it's God itself.
- Fredrik: To you, love and God are the same thing.
- David: That thought makes me feel less empty; Makes my desperation less worse.
- Fredrik: Go on, dad.
- David: All of a sudden, emptiness turns into abundance, and desperation turns into life. It's like a temporary death's sentence strike.
- Fredrik: Dad... if it's like how you say it is, then God is all over Karin. We love her so much.
- David: Yes.
- Fredrik: Can't that help her?
- David: I think so.
- [Fredrik rejects Karin's attempt to console him]
- Fredrik: Thanks, I can give myself all the pity I want.
- Martin: You're empty but capable. And now you're trying to fill your void with Karin's extinction. But how will God fit into that? It must make him more inscrutable than ever!
- Fredrik: Hey! Be careful now. Keep away from me. Stop hugging and kissing me. Stop sunbathing half naked. You disgust me. You know very well what I mean. Women are horrible. How they smell and move around, how they stick out their stomachs, how they comb their hair and talk. Makes me feel like a skinned rabbit!
- Karin: Poor boy.
- Fredrik: Thanks. I can give myself all the pity I want.
- Fredrik: [during the play] l face the moment of ultimate perfection. l tremble with anticipation. Oblivion shall own me and death alone shall love me. l will go. Nothing can stop me.
- Karin: l am waiting.
- Fredrik: Ye devils, what am l about to do? Sacrifice my life? For what? For eternity? For the perfect work of art? For love? Have l gone mad?
- Karin: l am waiting.
- Fredrik: Who shall see my sacrifice? Death. Who shall gauge the depth of my love? A ghost. And who shall thank me? Eternity.
- Karin: l am waiting.
- Karin: l must choose between him and the others. l've made up my mind. l've sacrificed Martin.
- Fredrik: ls all this for real?
- Karin: l don't know. l'm caught in the middle, and sometimes l'm uncertain. l know l've been ill and that my illness was like a dream. But these are no dreams. They must be real. They must be real.
- Fredrik: They're not real for me, not in the least. Karin. They're not real for me.
- Martin: You're void of all feeling. You lack common decency. You know how to express yourself. You always have just the right words. There's just one thing you haven't the slightest clue about: life itself. You're a craven coward but a genius at evasions and excuses.
- Martin: ln your novels you're always courting some god. But let me tell you, your faith and your doubt are very unconvincing. All that's apparent is your ingenuity.
- David: Don't you think l know that?
- Martin: Then why go on? Why not do something respectable instead?
- David: Such as?
- Martin: Have you written one word of truth in your life as an author?
- David: l don't know.
- Martin: See? Your half-lies are so refined that they look like truth.
- David: l do my best.
- Martin: Maybe you do. But you fall short.
- Karin: A god steps down from the mountain. He walks through the dark forest. There are wild beasts everywhere in the silent darkness. lt must be real. l'm not dreaming. l'm telling the truth. Now l'm in one world, now in the other. l can't stop it.
- Karin: l enter a large room. lt's bright and peaceful. People are moving back and forth. Some of them talk to me and l understand them. lt's so nice, and l feel safe. ln some of their faces there's a shining light. Everyone is waiting for him to come, but no one is anxious. They say that l can be there when it happens.
- Fredrik: Why are you crying?
- Karin: lt's nothing. Nothing to worry about. But, sometimes l have this intense yearning. l long for that moment... when the door will open, and all the faces will turn to him.
- Fredrik: Who is coming?
- Karin: No one has said for certain. But l think it's God who will reveal himself to us. That it will be him coming into the room through that door.
- Karin: l was frightened. The door opened. But the god that came out was a spider. He came towards me, and l saw his face. lt was a terrible, stony face. He crawled up and tried to force himself into me but l defended myself. The whole time l saw his eyes. They were cold and calm. When he couldn't penetrate me, he continued up my chest, up onto my face and on up the wall. l have seen God.