Guilt is about something you do. Shame is about who you are.

You can be anything you want, but when you go against who you are inside, it doesn't feel good.

And perhaps the best answer is not to tolerate differences, not even to accept them. But to celebrate them. Maybe then those who are different would feel more loved, and less, well, tolerated.

Straight people have it so much easier. They don’t understand. They can’t. There’s no such thing as openly straight.

The Greeks were smarter than us, and they had different words for different kinds of love. There's storge, which is family love. That's not us. There's eros, which is sexual love. There's philia, which is brotherly love. And then there's the highest form. Agape.” He pronounced it “aga-pay.” “That's transcendental love, like when you place the other person above yourself.

Having no room of my own to "take care of things" had begun to weigh on me. I wondered if storing up semen would have a health impact on me, positive or negative, like shinier hair or weight gain.

I don't think about relatability (when writing), I think about the heart of the character.