You know, like when you look in the mirror and the thing you see is not the thing as it really is.

But the fascinating and unbelievable-but-true thing about Dr. Jefferson Jeffersonis that he was not a doctor of any kind. He was just an orange juice salesman named Jefferson Jefferson. When he became rich and powerful, he went to court, made "Jefferson" his middle name, and then changed his first name to "Dr." Capital D. Lowercase r. Period.

I didn't want to look at them, so I looked away, and to look away was to look at Augustus.

...whatever you're worried about, you're bigger than the worries.

Truth resists simplicity.

People are supposed to care. It's good that people mean something to you, that you miss people when they're gone.

And as paralyzing and upsetting as all the never agains were, the final leaving felt perfect. Pure. The most distilled possible form of liberation. Everything that mattered except one lousy picture was in the trash, but it felt so great. I started jogging, wanting to put even more distance between myself and school. It is so hard to leave—until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamned thing in the world.