"You are fairly smart," I said after a while. "You are fairly good at compliments," he answered.

The important thing is not whatever nonsense the voices are saying, but what the voices are feeling.

I just want you to be happy. If that’s with me or with someone else or with nobody. I just want you to be happy.

Colin did not laugh. Instead he thought, Tampons have strings? Why? Of all the major human mysteries - God, the nature of the universe, etc. - he knew the least about tampons. To Colin, tampons were a little bit like grizzly bears: he was aware of their existence, but he'd never seen on in the wild, and didn't really care to.

Night falls fast. Today is the past.

Read a lot. Read broadly... Tell stories to your friends, and pay attention to when they get bored... Write a lot.

Do you know why I left America, Lidewij? So that I would never again have to encounter Americans." "But you are an American." "Incurably so, it seems.