But the way I see it, dying without knowing love would be a tragedy.

The same way that some people can play the piano, I can do plots! They just come!

I always loved reading. Growing up, my favorite book was 'A Child's Garden of Verses,' by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Humiliation, by the way, is a truly terrible emotion. It's at the bottom of the pile.

No matter when you were born or where, puberty is the same. It's the same for your parents as it is for you - what's happening in your body dictates everything.

Elizabeth scowled, feeling like a nobody, a nothing. She felt like her entire self had been made worthless. She could change her interests, but she couldn't change her looks. She'd never be six feet tall. She'd never look like a supermodel.

Life's one great lesson was: Do not care. Not caring was a person's real protection.