The job of reading is to use stories as a way into seeing other people as we see ourselves

She taught me everything I knew about crawfish and kissing and pink wine and poetry. She made me different.

Why would you try to kill this guy, Kevin? He's a genius. Nuts to your truce.

You've got a lifetime to mull over the Buddhist understanding of interconnectedness." He spoke every sentence as if he'd written it down, memorized it, and was now reciting it. "But while you were looking out the window, you missed the chance to explore the equally interesting Buddhist belief in being present for every facet of your daily life, of being truly present. Be present in this class. And then, when it's over, be present out there," he said, nodding toward the lake and beyond.' ~Dr. Hyde, pg 50

We have this weird thing in the world where you don't get insulted for what you do, you get insulted for who you are.

If you don't live a life in service of a greater good, you've gotta at least die a death in service of a greater good, you know? And I fear that I won't get either a life or a death that means anything.

I have never really thought of him as a person, either.... A guy whose strings were broken, who didn’t feel the root of his leaves of grass connected to the field, a guy who was cracked. Like me.