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

Because words were hills and valleys you traveled, so lovely sometimes that they hurt your eyes.

And pity--people who inspire it in you are actually very powerful people. To get someone else to take care of you, to feel sorry for you--that takes a lot of strength, smarts, manipulation. Very powerful people.

You were a stone wall, a fort in high, unreachable trees, an island, my own island, that no boat could reach.

If you don't participate, you're just taking up oxygen. (Bunny) Life is a banquet. Approach it with hunger. (Chuck)

We're as good at talking ourselves out of fear as into it, aren't we? Maybe better.

It’s a simple truth that a secret is something you’re ashamed of.