...but now the worst crime was pretending to be something you were not.

Always keep mint on your windowsill in August, to ensure that buzzing flies will stay outside, where they belong. Don't think the summer is over, even when roses droop and turn brown and the stars shift position in the sky. Never presume August is a safe or reliable time of the year.

There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.

It doesn't matter what people tell you. It doesn't matter what they might say. Sometimes you have to leave home. Sometimes, running away means you're headed in the exact right direction.

I just finished Colson Whitehead's "The Underground Railroad," which I think is a work of genius.

I must keep my head and not give in to desire, for desire is what causes women to drown.

Margaret thought of all she knew for certain, that day would always follow night that love was never wasted nor was it lost.