How could I pretend to be someone else when I was already failing at being the person I already was?

I could not but wonder at the queen's unprecedented civility, until I realized with a flush of shame that it was my own improved behavior that motivated hers. So it is that we in life determine our own treatment.

And have your mother put my head on a stake? Do you have any notion what that would do to my handsome good looks?

Today exists between yesterday and tomorrow.

I ultimately decided to hold my tongue and settle instead for the comfort of ignorance. Not knowing the truth, I retained hope, and that hope I held like a smooth warm stone against my heart.

I milked, of course, and did some work around the barn, and tried not to think about Brian, which was like trying not to breathe.

You can’t think about how much you have left to do because that’s just one thought, one sad thought, that’ll make you bummed out all day long. Instead you’ve got to think about how much you’ve already done.