I have a great affection for people who are intellectually engaged with the world, and who don't treat everything superficially. And I think, when people talk about nerdiness, what they're really talking about is smart people who who are trying to think hard about the world. And I don't think that's an insult, I think that's a great thing.

I'm not embarrassed by my faith, and I'm also not embarrassed by my doubt.

And then I screwed up and the Colonel screwed up and Takumi screwed up and she slipped through our fingers.

We just did an awesome job of not dying.

My stomach sank. JP had come so close. His immigrant parents had sacrificed so much.

Some wars," he said dismissively. "What am I at war with? My cancer. And what is my cancer? My cancer is me. The tumors are made of me. They're made of me as surely as my brain and my heart is made of me. It is a civil war, Hazel Grace, with a predetermined winner.

In the end the listening exposes you even more than it exposes the people you're trying to listen to.