But it is a pipe." "No, it's not," I said. It's a drawing of a pipe. Get it? All representations of a thing are inherently abstract. It's very clever.

Because you're my friend, wingnut.

Don’t make stuff because you want to make money - it will never make you enough money. And don’t make stuff because you want to get famous - because you will never feel famous enough. Make gifts for people - and work hard on making those gifts in the hope that those people will notice and like the gifts.

One of the reasons that metaphor and symbolism are important in books is because they are also important to life. Like, for example say you're in high school and you're a boy and you say to a girl: "Do you like anyone right now?" - that's not the question you're asking. The question you're asking is, "do you like me right now."

I will play out the string. I will not betray your trust. I will find you.

She has enough black eyeliner on to outline a corpse, and her skin's so pale she looks like she's just broken dawn.

She's cute, I thought, but you don't need to like a girl who treats you like you're ten: You've already got a mom.