Just because you keep something a secret doesn't mean it never happened, no matter how much you want that to be true.

She had loved him. He knew this; he had never doubted it. But she had also asked him to kill her. If you love someone that much, you did not lay that sort of burden on him for the rest of his life.

Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall.

I don't believe in God. But sitting there, in a room full of those who feel otherwise, I realize that I do believe in people. In their strength to help each other, and to thrive in spite of the odds, I believe that the extraordinary trumps the ordinary, any day. I believe that having something to hope for -- even if it's just a better tomorrow -- is the most powerful drug on this planet.

All any of us wanted, really, was to know that we counted. That someone else's life would not have been as rich without us here.

newborns reminded her of tiny buddhas

People changed. Even the people you thought you knew as well as you knew yourself.