I knew what it was to yearn for a life so distant it seemed that it had never been anything more than a dream.

Being an outsider is the one thing we all have in common.

The nature of love had totally escaped her until now. She had thought that if you lost it, you could never get it back, like a stone thrown down a well. But it was like the water at the bottom of the well, there when you can't even see it, shifting in the dark.

Still, she knows one thing for certain: never judge a relationship unless you are the one wrapped up in its arms.

That was the way illness appeared in a house, in the corners, in between floorboards, on the hooks in the closet, along with the sweaters and coats.

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.

Young people believe that regret is something you will never feel if you simply do as you please, but sometimes it is a matter of degree.