Parenting is really just a matter of tracking, of hoping your kids do not get so far ahead you can no longer see their next moves.

Your problem is that you have been too honest for too long. Once you start doing it, lying is simpler than breathing.

She thought of death like the seam of a hem: each time you lose someone close, it unraveled a little. You could still go along with your life, but you'd be forever tripping over something you previously took for granted.

The wolves knew when it was time to stop looking for what they'd lost, to focus instead on what was yet to come.

And the very act of living is a tide; at first it seems to make no difference at all, and then one day you look down and see how much pain has eroded

I've never been in love, but I've always imagined it--weirdly--like some sort of OxiClean commercial. The TV host shows a scene from an ordinary day, and then takes a big old sponge soaked in love and swipes away the stains. Suddenly that same scene is missing all the mistakes, all the loneliness. The colors are like jewels, ten times richer than they were before. The music is louder and clearer. "Love," the host will say, "makes life a little brighter.

There are two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations.