The parts of me that used to think I was different or smarter or whatever, almost made me die.

Real leaders are people who “help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.

...the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.

I cannot say what color Lenore Beadsman’s eyes are; I cannot look at them; they are the sun to me.

I read,' I say. 'I study and read. I bet I've read everything you've read. Don't think I haven't. I consume libraries. I wear out spines and ROM drives. I do things like get in a taxi and say, "The library, and step on it.

We all suffer alone in the real world. True empathy's impossible. But if a piece of fiction can alow us imaginatively to identify with a character's pain, we might then also more easily conceive of others identifying with their own. This is nourishing, redemptive; we become less alone inside. It might just be that simple.

Everything I’ve ever let go of has claw marks on it.