Saying just the right thing after a considerable, awkward pause is far less effective than saying the wrong thing with perfect timing. I'm telling you.

My mother is from Cairo, Georgia. This makes everything she says sound like it went through a curling iron.

I felt deeply tricked. Stunned. And furious. I also felt my default emotion: numbness.

Miracles do happen. You must believe this. No matter what else you believe about life, you must believe in miracles.

You deserve to need me, not to have me.

I did not consider him to be any kind of a genius. I considered him deeply lacking in the area that mattered most in life. Star quality.

To me, these people were as exotic as animals in a zoo. I'd never seen anything like them. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to be one of them or simply live among them taking notes and photographs.