It's okay to play turtle for a while, as long as you don't get too fond of your shell.

He stared at the heart of his heart, the one woman in the world for him

Living is very serious, very real. It is also always a game. If we are wise, it is very real, very terrible, and very lovely, and a good deal of fun.

We don't go to the ocean for anything as simple as happiness, do we? We go there to feel alive. Like life, the ocean holds chance and change, grief and terror and beauty. It promises mortality, not peace.

Bleeding isn't optional for most of us.

But not all scars showed, did they?

People always wanted someone to blame, didn't they?