I was like a chocolate in a box, looking well behaved and perfect in place, all the while harboring a secret center.

You've got to say what you mean and mean what you say...Doubt in your voice is an open door people will shove right through.

She would bring you some great book because she was a book matchmaker, because she loved books the way other girls loved clothes.

So I forcibly shove aside my prickles of pissed-off, which is easier than it sounds when millions of little sequined caffeine dancers are doing their big Broadway number on your internal stage. (Page 173)

A relationship could be a place to hide too.

The most basic and somehow forgettable thing is this: Love is not pain. Love is goodness. And real love--it's less shiny than solid and simple.

They never told you that stranger might be someone you knew.