A town so suffocating and small, you tripped over people you hated every day. People who knew things about you. It's the kind of place that leaves a mark.

Safer to be feared than loved.

He was one of those guys who'd pronounce I'm a hugger as he came at you, neglecting to ask if the feeling was mutual.

I assumed everything bad in the world could happen, because everything bad in the world already did happen.

It's impossible to compete with the dead. I wished I could stop trying.

The truly frightening flaw in humanity is our capacity for cruelty - we all have it.

I think there is something very relatable in the idea that you hit a certain age, later in your life, where you realize you have to pick up the rug and see what's underneath it and deal with stuff.