That's why there are ten gates to pass through before you reach the garden. If life were easy there would be one gate. There would be no gates at all.

In a world of sorrow, love was an act of will. All you needed were the right ingredients.

It was as if hope had appeared out of nowhere to settle beside her and it wasn't going anywhere, it wasn't going to desert her now.

I can hurt myself more than anyone else can, she told her sister. I can do it with my eyes closed.

Some fates are guaranteed, no matter who tries to intervene.

But most important of all, she explained that it was all right to say 'No. I disagree.' that was a gift. I understood it was power. The power to think my own thoughts. The power to believe in myself.

Are people drawn to each other because of the stories they carry inside? At the library I couldn’t help but notice which patrons checked out the same books. They appeared to have nothing in common, but who could tell what a person was truly made of? The unknown, the riddle, the deepest truth. I noticed them all: the ones who’d lost their way, the ones who’d lived their lives in ashes, the ones who had to prove themselves, the ones who, like me, had lost the ability to feel.