I think maybe I know why,' she finally said. 'Why?' 'Maybe all the strings inside him broke,' she said.

She was loved deeply, but not widely

Because there is no glory in illness. There is no meaning to it. There is no honor in dying of.

Colin thought about the dork mantra: sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. What a dirty lie.

All the characters are made out of words. With reading, I understand that the people aren't real but the fact that they are made out of language and are made out of words is extremely powerful to me. It becomes transformative for me. Different people have different ways of trying to make stories using language.

I just want to do something that matters. Or be something that matters. I just want to matter.

I'm starting to realize that people lack good mirrors. It's so hard for anyone to show us how we look, & so hard for us to show anyone how we feel.