like a kid kicked out of class. humiliated and free.

I wanted to tell her not to entertain despair like this. Despaire wasn't a guest, you didn't play its favorite music, find it a comfortable chair. Despair was the enemy." -white oleander

No matter where I was, my compass pointed west. I would always know what time it was in California.

A cliche is like a coin that has been handled too much. Once language has been overly handled, it no longer leaves a clear imprint.

...The men eyed her with the automatic mix of curiosity, lust, and aesthetic judgment they always gave young women, subject to object, the way you'd stare at an animal. She pretended not to notice. To remind them she was a person was too much effort. Objects bore no guilt.

What was beauty unless you intended to use it, like a hammer, or a key? It was just something for other people to use and admire, or envy, despise. To nail their dreams onto like a picture hanger on a blank wall. And so many girls saying, use me, dream me.

She’s never where she is,' I said. 'She’s only inside her head.