We have to admire the world for not ending on us.

I’m not interested in blind optimism, but I’m very interested in optimism that is hard-won, that takes on darkness and then says, ‘This is not enough.’ But it takes time, more time than we can sometimes imagine, to get there. And sometimes we don’t.

The person we know at first, she thinks, is not the one we know at last.

I'm only telling you on the truth," he said. "If you can't stand the truth, don't ask for it.

She wanted to tell him so mach, on the tarmac, the day he left. The world is run by brutal men and the surest proof is their armies. If they ask you to stand still, you should dance. If they ask you to burn the flag, wave it. If they ask you to murder, re-create.

She likes the people with the endurance to tolerate the drudge, the ones who know that pain is a requirement, not a curse.

He might have been naive, but he didn't care; he said he's rather die with his heart on his sleeve than end up another cynic.